Hell's Guard
by Benthino
Summary: Mercenaries are viewed as greedy and murderous, selfish pricks. Join the Steele family as they create a guild to prove that they ain't half bad actually. The world could always use more mercenaries.
1. Chapter 1

Hell's Guard

Summary: Fiore is full of guilds that accept jobs from everyone, but when the council needs some less than respectable jobs done, whom do they turn to? Mercenaries of course! Now recruiting! (OCs wanted)

Rated: M

Tags: Humor & Action/Adventure

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy tail.

"Fiore! A land that has… uh Magic and stuff… Got like 17 million people or something. Pretty cool place to chill, they got dragons and shit… And have you seen the babes around here?! I mean that Mirajane and Erza WHOOO! Now that's a piece of ass I'd like to…"

Hey! What are you doing?!

"Whoops gotta go! See you all later!"

Hmpf, very well, let us begin.

Fiore, a land full of dragons and magic and… shit… it has a lot of people and I don't really give a crap?

Ahem, let's try this again. Erza gazed upon the long sword that was brought before her, ready to let it enter her OK WHO THE FUCK CHANGED MY SCRIPT FOR SOME FAIRY TAIL EROTICA?!

"*Loud obvious giggling*"

You know what? FUCK IT! Let's just start.

Prologue: "Back in action"

"Barry's bar" was a fairly popular bar in this area of Fiore, it looked rather run down on the outside, but it gave you that feeling of experience, as if it had been there for a very long time, which it had. The interior was fairly standard, wooden floors, darkened walls and windows that had a dark tint, leaving only silhouettes of the patrons inside. The bar area itself had a few silvery bar stools with red cushions atop them, the counter was rather well crafted mahogany, with some intricate carvings at its front. Behind the counter was a large collection of about every known alcohol and addition to alcohol known to man, and in the middle between the two stood Barry.

Barry was a fairly normal man, 6,2, slightly pale skin and had grey hair split in two because of his giant bald spot atop his head, but he dosen't care. Really friendly guy who you can talk to if you need it.

Suddenly a loud slurping noise was heard, and almost all the patrons turned towards the source with murderous intent... Only to shrink back into their seats with a fearful look in their eyes.

Sitting at the bar was a literal giant of a man, standing at an incredible 8,2 he towered everyone in the bar easily, and if his size wasn't intimidating enough, the armor he wears should be. Completely black with silvery linings and some questionable dark splotches the thing is riddled with scars from previous battles, on the counter was his helm, a gladiatorial styled helmet that covered his entire head while showing his eyes to his foes so that it may strike fear into their hearts. The man himself had short and spikey blonde hair that was still long enough to make a pony tail out of if he combed it, his skin was pale and his eyes held a powerful glow to them, their orange shine gave out a feeling of: Strength! Honor! Loyalty! AND…Utter boredom.

He gave a long and drawn out sigh.

"Sam, that is the seventeenth time you have sighed this hour… and you have been lying facedown on my counter for 90% PERCENT OF THAT TIME! Only getting up to drink. So tell me, why are you so sad?"

The only response he was given was a pitiful groan.

"Is the cola bad?" As he said that he gestured towards the small McDonald's cola currently in Sam's hand.

Sam gave a negative groan.

"Did someone attempt to kidnap you and force you into marriage? Again?"

Another groan.

"Well come on now, spit it out."

"Mmphmmhmphmphmhmp"

There was a minute of silence.

"Yeah, I don't speak Pyro."

Sam raised his head.

"The magic council has been hounding me day and night over missions, but no matter how many I do they keep making me do more for so much money, even on my day off they keep sending people to give me missions."

And with that Sam's head got reacquainted with the table

"Yeesh, now I get it, but don't worry here you can just: Coca-Cola and Chill."

Sam gave a small smile.

"Thanks Barry."

"No probs."

And as the night drew closer, the bar was empty. Save for Sam and Barry having a conversation, but another patron interrupted them. Someone Sam didn't want to see.

"Ah, Samuel Steele. Just the man I was looking for!"

Samuel gave a disapproving grunt.

"Now, now, I bring good news! The council has a job that will make you pretty damn rich and respected."

"Kindly tell 'em to go fuck off."

The man was quit surprised by this response and was at a loss for words.

Barry turned towards the man and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Just who are you stranger?"

The man regained his composure and answered with a car salesman smile,

"My name is agent Saren Sidonis, I am the "hotline" to mercenaries that the council contacts when they need special jobs done, and right now Samuel is at the top of his game so they want him for most things."

"Which is why I have so much money now that I won't need to work for them until my grandchildren die."

Saren Turned towards Samuel who had his back facing him

"Come on Sam, you will get millions!"

"No."

"Every merc will be in awe of you!"

"No."

"Women will throw themselves at you!"

"No!"

Barry could see that Saren had a small frown while Samuel had a face that would be described as… Intensely angry yet calm and stoic

Saren sighed.

"Alright, they told me to use this only as a last resort, but Samuel. If you assist the council in this one last mission, they will divert most of their intelligence networks to finding the culprits of the SKULLS incident."

Samuel's eyes widened slightly in recognition of that name and at the chance to find who did it. He then turned around to face Saren and walked towards him.

"And what, pray tell, will this mission include?"

Saren gave a predatory smile.

"It will include YOU, training the next generation of mages and mercenaries of Fiore, you will work under the code name of a guild named Hell's Guard and carry out special strike missions that may result in death. And while your "Guild" catches the attention of others we will be able to gather information about the whereabouts of the culprits."

Saren reached his hand out.

"Do we have a deal?"

Samuel stared at Saren's hand, then at his eyes. They were full of plots and schemes that would ensure success for him and those he aided. Samuel's own were now full of conviction and drive. It looked as if a firestorm was raging within them.

"Deal, Agent Sidonis."

And with that, they shook hands and Saren left to report his good news to the council. While went towards one of the empty tables and sat down.

"Barry, get me some papers, pencils and a communications lacrima. This is going to be one hell of a night."

And so Samuel started writing and called a few… Old friends in order to prepare for this mission.

Welcome new recruits! Please fill in the form below in order to join Hell's guard!

Name:

Codename/Nickname:

Gender:

Age:

Appearance: (Eyes, height, hair, skin, clothing and weapons.)

Bio/History:

Reasons for joining:

Guild mark Location and colour:

Personality:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Suicide Permit: Sign your name here in case it has your "parents'" permission to go on suicide missions that may result in death, dismemberment and/or being eaten by a monster. You will receive a suitable replacement by your maker.

Stars 1-3: (Your rankings within the mercenary community. 1 is fresh recruit. 2 is have been on a few missions and 3 is veterans who have been on many missions. Be mindful that even if you are a veteran, you can get killed. There are rank 4 and 5 but they are special and I will give them an explanation at another time.)

Remember, no matter who you are, what you did or what you ethnicity is. We are all equals. We are Vode An!

This is my first story so constructive criticism is appreciated, and if anything is unclear in the form PM me and I can explain.

Looking forward to all the different characters I will get and remember, death will be a constant risk… So be very afraid. Oh and before I forget, this thing will be filled with references and familiar names. I hope some of you recognize them, I don't own them either.

Samuel Steele – Benthino

Saren Sidonis – Benthino

Barry the barkeep – Benthino


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: "Meeting the crew"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"Fiore"

"Babes"

"Fairy tail erotica?!"

"Samuel Steele!"

"Barry"

"Agent Saren Sidonis"

"Do we have a deal?"

 **Barry's Bar**

Back to where we last left off…

"Ok, we've sent out the fliers, and I have sent off some rumor spreaders. What's left?"

Samuel sighed.

"Well, I think it's time I called up my old pals for assistance."

He grabbed a Comm lacrima

"God help us all…"

 **Cole's Hole**

Cole's Hole is a seedy hotel where you often hang in order to lay low in case you have, uh… gotten in trouble with the law. It is a well-known hangout for lowlifes, thugs, mafia minions and bounty hunters, among other things. It is also here we will find one of the greatest, cleverest and most stylish bounty hunters in the business. He is also the friend that Samuel was calling up. With such a professional at their side nothing shall stand in their way!

There was a loud belching noise

Unfortunately, he also enjoys drinking, smoking and shooting. He is also and idiot most of the time.

"I'm giving you freaks 10 seconds before I start shooting EVERYTHING in sight. One…TEN!"

And from the outside you could see several bullets of different calibres fly out of the building, as well as a few patrons running in panic while shouting at the top of their lungs.

In the middle of the shot out lobby stood a lonesome figure, draped in a dark brown duster that draped over a dark blue vest and dark brown pants, all of this covered his rather muscular body, on his feet were a pair of leathery cowboy boots, and it seemed as if they had bullets instead of spurs. In his hands he held a pair of custom-made revolvers, and he was wearing a nice pair of brown leather gloves. On his head he wore a darkened Stetson and had a red bandana covering the lower half of his lightly tanned face.

"Well, I warned ya."

He then proceeded to holster his guns, remove his bandana and pull out a cigar that he already had lit… Somehow.

Suddenly through the door, a young man appeared with a lacrima.

"Um, mister Smith, Sir."

He immediately turned

"So they sent a helpless child to kill me, WELL I'M NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT!"

He proceeded to kick the kid's legs out and run behind the bar for cover.

"Ouch! No sir! There is a "Samuel" calling for you."

This got his attention.

Sammy? Calling? Alive?

"Gimme 'dat thing!"

He was immediately given the device,

"Yo Sammy boy! I ain't seen ya since we rolled on that two week hunt!"

"…Yes, it was memorable."

"So, whatcha want?"

Samuel sighed

"I need your help with training and keeping a guild."

"What's in it for me?"

"Booze. Bullets. Babes?"

"Nah!"

"We will rake in a bunch of cash."

"Sold! I'll be there in a week or so!"

"… I am afraid to ask, but why are you gonna be late?"

"Well, I pissed of the owner, pissed of a gang, got a few marks in town and a big beastie is around in these here parts."

There was a silence

"Just… Just get over here without a military escort."

"I ain't promising anything."

"UGH!"

And so the call was concluded.

Jacob then gave a sad smile as he put the cigar in his mouth and took a deep whiff and breathed out:

"Hell, it's about damn time"

And so he set off to complete these objectives he had accumulated… For better or worse.

 **Barry's Bar**

"So… Who was that?"

Samuel turned towards Barry, holding a neutral facial expression

"Ever heard of "The Sheriff"?

This got Barry's attention

"The Sheriff? As in one of the greatest bounty hunters in the south of Fiore?!"

"Bingo"

Barry whistled

"Wow, how'd you meet?"

Samuel looked towards the sky while remembering

 **Flashback**

Fire and explosions were heard all around, people screaming in pain, grief and anger.

Two figures were in the middle of it, one covered in armor with a blonde mop of hair, the other covered in a dark leathery armor, the blonde one seemingly holding the other down.

"Jacob, take the shot!"

He hesitated

"But what if I miss?!"

Samuel stared at him with determination.

"You won't"

As the trigger was pulled, there were two sounds, the sound of a bullet piercing a skull and an explosive device detonating.

In the aftermath Jacob and Samuel were sitting by a charred tree.

"Hell of a shot boy."

"Shit, never though I'd make it."

Samuel pulled out a pair of cigars

"Uh, I don't smoke."

"Fuck that, we survived a fucking suicide mission. This won't kill us."

"… Ok fine."

As Jacob grabbed his cigar Samuel raised his own.

"To our partnership"

Jacob raised his own

"May it bring us much fortune"

And so they sat and relaxed, while securing a bright future of partnership.

 **Flashback over**

"… We hunted a guy and caught him together at a pizza resturant."

"Okay, so what next?"

"Well, I'm gonna hit up the best doctor I know, set up a pair of drinks."

"Sure, whadaya need?"

"Water and Lemonade"

There was a silence

"…Seriously?"

"Seriously."

As Barry went to fetch the drinks, Samuel activated the Comm lacrima once more.

 **Crocus Hospital Morgue**

We find several doctors in a room examining a carcass that has been severely mutilated; however one of these doctors was different from the others.

His body type was slightly more muscular than the others and he was taller than a few of them. He had black hair in a 50s type pompadour that was only slightly up going, a surgeon mask covering his mouth and nose, a small pair of glasses were situated on his nose. He wore a white lab coat with red splotches all over, smelled oddly like hot sauce. He had a white undershirt under his coat, a pair of black pants and a pair of fancy black shoes. At his belt line was a holstered pair of twin blades, one red and one blue, the red named AGNI and the blue named Rudra. Finally at his coat was a small nametag that said "Hello I'm Jack"

"As you can all clearly see, the body has been brutally butchered in a myriad of ways, but what you may not have witnessed, may be these scars along the sides of the cerebellum. They are signs of an earlier, rather sloppily done, surgery that has been covered up. The cuts were made by an uneven blade thereby leaning towards the conclusion of a combat knife being brought into use as to cover up the type and also break through the skull. And so I know that these uneven cuts match precisely the edges of a custom made Helghan survival and combat knife that has been recently imported, decided by the soft smell of salt on the handle and the tiny specs of salt on the blade."

"But doctor Stahl, how do you know this blade so well?"

He smiled

"Well doctor Richtofen, I have an old friend who used to have such a knife, and I saw it's raw efficiency and effects up close, and thanks to the skin cells left on the knife I know that the one who used it is-"

Suddenly a lacrima calling interrupted them

"Erm, doctor Stahl, there is a call for you."

"Alright, give me the lacrima."

As he brought it up to his ear he heard a familiar voice

"Doctor, there appears to be a pain in my heart."

He raised an eyebrow

"And when did these pains start?"

He could practically feel the other person smile

"Oh, about the same time my best friend went to the hospital and became a doctor and didn't recognize his best friend who just happens to be screwing around with him."

There was a silence… And it was broken by steadily increasing laughter.

"HahahaHaHaHaHAHAHAHA! SAMUEL, IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!"

The other doctors looked worriedly at him.

"Jack, it is good to hear your voice again after so long, how goes the uh… Doctoring?"

"Ah it's fine, just finishing up who murdered uh… What's his name doctor Cho?"

The doctor in question looked down at her notepad

"Uh, Mr Obadiah Stayne, sir.

"Ah, Obadiah Stayne."

"Oh yeah, I think it was Leam Cedar, remember that ass bought a Helghan knife."

"Yep, my guess exactly. So why are you calling… Are you dying?! WHO DID IT?! I SHALL AVENGE YOU!"

"No, no, no I am not dying, I was actually calling to see if you'd be interested in working in my new guild as the medical officer."

"I'm in! Let me get my things! OH, and can Zhuue come? She has been very bored lately."

"Of course, you never split a good pair… Even if one's a little defective."

"She was drunk!"

"Whatever, when can you get here?"

"Be there in an hour."

Samuel smiled

"Good, I'll see you then."

"Auf wiedersehen my friend."

"Yeah dasvidanya."

As Jack put down the phone, he couldn't help but to grin widely

"Uh, doctor Stahl?"

"Doctor Zed! I hereby christen you head doctor in my absence!"

The man who was situated in the far back was shocked

"But, I don't have a medical licence."

"Take mine."

The man smiled behind his mask

"Well lookie here, guess who just got a fancy med school degree!"

While all doctors were sighing and shaking their heads, Jack headed towards his office.

"Zhuue? Zhuue! Wake up! I have some exciting news!"

Suddenly out of a pile of paperwork and blankets rose a woman, her black hair in a pony tail that stretched towards her lower back, she had a black tank top that showed a little part of her lower belly, a pair of dark brown short shorts with a small but thick metal rod at her back, she also had a black gasmask with red lenses and one "breathing hole" attached to her belt. And finally a pair of thick, black heavy combat boots. Her jade eyes looked tiredly at Jack as he had interrupted her nap. Her body was one to die for as she had won quite the jackpot at the genetic lottery, she was also slightly shorter than Jack.

"Hope you slept well, because we are going to work!"

She simply sighed tiredly

"Oh, well alright if you don't want to go see Samuel I gue-"

"PLEASEPLEASPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!

Before he could finish his sentence, she had jumped on his shoulders and was begging him to take her with him.

"Alright, alright, but first we need to pack and then we set off.

So without further ado, they packed and traversed towards Hell's Guard.

 **Barry's Bar**

"So now you got a doctor."

"Yup"

"And he is coming here in half an Hour?"

"Yup"

"Anything else?"

Samuel brought up his and to his chin and stroked it in thought, before having an epiphany of sorts.

"Oh I know"

"What?"

He gave a smug grin with surprisingly sharp teeth.

"We need a pair of young new mercs that will give the others motivation and competition!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

As he said this he started walking towards the wall.

"They must be skilled! Tenacious! Loyal and determined to win!"

As he said this he slammed his palm onto the wall fiercely.

For a time there was silence… Until suddenly

"AAAGGHHH!"

"WHOAH!"

A young man and woman fell from the rafters

"Someone like them." Samuel said as he grinned

The girl was wearing what seemed to be a lighter version of the armor Samuel was wearing, only instead of black it was coloured white with black lining the edges instead of silver, her body had become well toned and you could see the muscular structure she had, not too hard-core but enough to make you think twice about robbing her, at her gauntlets he had a pair of small openings up top that could fit with the small sharp "ornaments" on her blades she had on her back. The blades themselves looked as if someone had taken a curved sword, put a straight sword on top of it and filled the space between with metal and added a "toothed" edge at the side that as facing her, long story short, really big butcher blades with chains. As her skull like helmet folded in on itself, it became a pair of headphones on the head of a young girl with lightish brown shoulder length hair and hazel coloured eyes that looked up at the two old men.

"Eh, he eh he, sorry?"

While the boy had a slightly leaner build but still chiseled enough to look fairly attractive, he was wearing black leather armor with fingerless gloves with a black hood and cowl combo to conceal his identity. But what got your attention was either the large katana on his back, the belt of kunai on his waist or the small pocket of smoke bombs he was carrying. As he pulled down the cowl and pulled the hoodie back, his face was shown. While the girl might have had dark tanned skin, the boy had pale and light skin; his hair was as black as coal and he had a small scar on his left cheek. He also had a blue right eye and a brown left eye, often concealed with a pair of shades that were currently busted on the floor.

"Annnnd we're caught."

Samuel just smiled, as Barry looked on confounded

"Samuel, why did two teenagers just fall from my roof?"

"Because my son and daughter enjoy following their "Big strong papa" on adventures"

"You never told me you had kids!"

"… You were drunk."

"Oh… Well who are they?"

Samuel walked up to them

"Well this is my daughter Raina, the older yet smaller sibling."

"Daaaaaad!"

"And this is Rey, the younger, taller and obviously annoying son."

"Whoa, pops you hurt me."

"Don't tempt me."

As they stood next to their father he ruffled their hair

"Pops could you at least refer to us as our nicknames, once?"

He simply shook his head in exasperation

"Alright, this is "Armored Lighting" and "Hidden Shadow", my darling children."

There was laughter and giggling as Samuel kept ruffling their hair.

"Soooo?"

"… So what?"

"Are hired or Nah?"

"…Nah."

There was a pause, followed by a shocked

"WHAT?!"

"I'm kidding, you're in, and god knows we need new recruits."

"Oh, so that's why you had me get the water and the lemonade!"

"Yep, compared to your Rey-

"Hey!"

His father smacked him up the head

"Don't interrupt. Unlike Rey here I pay attention to other things than scantily dressed women."

"…Can you blame me?"

"Yes"

"So, what now dad?"

"Well, we begin construction plans and get this place ready."

And so new help has arrived for Hell's Guard, but will it be enough to strengthen their guild for future events? Find out in the next chapter! Join us next time on .

A/N: Well here is the second chapter, sorry it took so long but inspiration and school have both done the tango away from me. But I did it. Leave a review so I can improve and don't forget to send in characters. I'm still waiting on some so I can start the next Arc: First Missions!

So send me the stuff!

Jacob Smith – Benthino

Jack Stahl – Benthino

Zhuue – Benthino

Rey & Raina Steele – Ivan Iva/Nah just kidding Benthino


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2; "First OP"

Previously in Hell's Guard

"God help us all…"

"Mr Smith"

"Dr Stahl"

"Zhuue!"

"Young and determined!"

"Rey and Raina"

"Construction"

 **Northern Fiore, Mountain area**

The north of Fiore has a surprisingly large amount of cold and desolate areas full of mountains, here we see several individuals heading towards a goal! Striving bravely against nature! Determined to succeed in reaching their goal!

"ACHOO!"

Ugh… Why do I even bother?

"P-P-Pops, why are w-we in this f-frozen wasteland?

Samuel sighed as he, once again, had to explain to his son WHY they were going.

"Because, Rey, we are going to the construction site of the new guild, I managed to get a good deal and some quick construction workers through a few contacts. And some… "Old friends" who are coming to visit. We also need to prepare for the new recruits."

This seemed to satisfy the boy, but Raina had a follow up question.

"B-B-But why d-didn't we j-just take a w-wagon to it?

This time, Rey gave a deadpan look

"Because last time we r-r-rode in a wagon, s-someone lit it on F-F-FIRE because she s-saw a spider!"

"SPIDER!"

And so Raina leapt into the air, latched onto her brother and unleashed her magic in fear of the supposed arachnid intruder, it should be noted that Raina specializes in electrical magic so… yeah it hurt a lot.

Samuel merely sighed and grabbed his now unconscious son as Raina had leapt atop his shoulders for safety.

One Hour Later

"Well, here we are, Hell's Guard headquarters."

As Samuel said this, he gestured towards a fairly large building that looked like a bunker of sorts with two armoured guards standing at the door, equipped with a black ski mask, thick snow camouflaged clothing and black boots, they were holding rifles resembling AK-47s but slightly leaner with a less exposed ammo clip.

"… It's tiny"

Rey received a slap to the back of his head.

 **Frostbite road**

A carriage convoy was driving along the road; the name was given due to the cold and harsh winds that sometimes plague the road. The convoy was nothing special, a few wagons full of people heading towards the same destination. Hell's guard! In the carriages themselves, there was a true myriad of different people. Some heavily armed, some extremely lightly dressed, but there were two individuals who were different from the others, one was a young man dressed in a black bodysuit of sorts with a black ski mask on, he also wore shades for some reason while fidgeting around in his seat. The other, who coincidentally sat next to him, had clothes that greatly contrasted the other. He was wearing a black business suit with a red tie, he was wearing a pair of fine shoes with a red colour, and he also had a pair of red cufflinks by the end of his suit's arms. His skin was fair and his hair was of a light brown colour. His hair as also arranged in a sort of bowl cut. He had a serious look about him as he was reading a pamphlet. His name was: Brad Exsion

"…"

"…Uh, hey"

He turned towards the masked man

"Uh, mind if I ask your name?"

"Names are for friends and relatives…however you can call me "Dark Horse"

"Wow, pretty cool name! Uh… you can call me "A-Akiba". All my friends used to call me that"

Brad merely nodded and went back to reading the recruitment pamphlet.

Suddenly, a chill blew into the waggon, leading to a multitude shuddering whispers, clattering teeth and curses. While everyone was resettling, Brad brought out his… choice of "equipment". Two semi-automatic Springfield pistols appeared in his hands as he waited for something to happen, but it seems that the only one who noticed was Akiba.

"Uhh, dude… Why are you, um bringing out your guns?"

Brad merely looked around

"Something isn't right here, I feel as if we are being watched."

As he said this, the cart stopped.

This seemed to get everyone's attention, as they all grabbed their weapons or fastened their armours.

There was a deathly silence, until suddenly…

The cart was cut in half!

A few of the passengers managed to catch on and jump off in order to land in a more balanced stance, among them was Brad, while some **COUGHAkibaCOUGH** simply fell out of the wagon and scrambled to get to their gear and take cover.

Surrounding the wagons was a large amount of shadowy individuals, along with a man with two blades; another individual seemed to hold a feral pose as her face was covered with an intimidating mask. And finally an armoured woman was standing alone, lightning arching around her, a pair of orange eyes burning, and if that did not intimidate enough the large butcher like blades in her hands might.

The one with the lab coat spoke first.

"Ah, fresh experiments for my collection. I wonder… Has anyone here any problems with excretion?"

There was a single yes

"Hm, hm, hm good.

He stretched his arm outwards while reaching towards them as if inviting them to grab his hand.

"Let us dance."

And so all the individuals around began charging, Akiba decided to voice his plan.

"We're screwed!"

Brad sighed

"Listen up! Protect the wagons! They have our supplies and several others who don't know what is going on! First priority defend the carts, split up. Ranged fighters stand back and close quarters engage them! Others are to assess damage and assault the commanders; Akiba, you and me are going for the doctor. Hey big guy!"

As he said this, he pointed towards a large man who seemed dressed as a gladiator with a Corinthian helm that covered his face, and a Spartan ensemble of clothes. He was holding a large trident that was meant for two hands with one.

While the powerful winds made it hard to hear what anyone was saying, it seemed not to bother the giant in his lack of clothing.

"Hrm?"

"Think you can take her out?"

He pointed towards the feral looking woman with a dual edged spear.

"Heh, finally something that isn't a bug to squash!"

"Don't get cocky, call for help if she is too much for you!"

"Hmpf!"

"Yo, uh bucket head! I mean knight guy!"

"What dost thou wish of me?"

"Uh ask Ho-

"Brad."

"Wha?"

"In case we don't make it out alive, my name is Brad."

"Oh… Mine is Johnny."

"Knight, you seem adept at sword fighting."

The knight rose to his feet, taking his full height and unsheathed his dual edged blade, his silver armor shining even in the snowstorm, he also had a small red "plume" (That is to say a red feather)

"I shall slay the armoured demon without any troubles."

"Uh, se looks kinda tough, are you sure you can take her alone? Maybe some backup?"

The knight laughed loudly, like an asshole.

"Surely you jest, she is a mere woman in armor! No challenge at all!"

And with that he charged of while the gladiator ran towards the other woman.

"Akiba, your weapon!"

"O-Oh, yeah!"

Johnny reaches into his vest and pulls out a pair of knives and holds them in a combat pose.

"I'm ready!"

"Let us end him."

And so Brad began firing at the enemy while Johnny charged forward, using Brad's covering fire in order to close the distance. However the enemy merely moved as little as possible while dodging the bullets. Making it seem like he was not even move.

"W-Whoah! How the hell ain't you hitting him?!"

"…He seems to know this one, let's switch gear."

Suddenly, magic circles appeared in his hands as his pistols dissappeared, and were immediately replaced by and assault rifle with a few modifications.

"Let's go."

 **Hell's guard**

"… And then I told him: "Sir, that's not the bison, ITS YOUR WIFE!" AHAHAHA!"

"Amusing."

Samuel was sitting inside the guild alongside Jacob and Barry while passing the time. Barry chose this moment to speak to Sam before Jacob told another story."

"You sure this is legal? I mean people could die."

"Will die." Jacob corrected him.

"Yes, will die. Won't the council be pissed off?"

Samuel merely took a deep whiff of his cigar.

"There are a lot of mercs out there, more than a few of those out there are lone wolves who would just take from us without giving anything back. Take the share of money for the guild and give chump change to us. Those types can die for all I care. We risk our lives daily and we need people we can trust.

Barry seemed to accept this, but Jacob didn't really seem so satisfied.

"Still, how do ya know that you're picking the right ones? And that you ain't killing the wrong ones?"

Samuel seemed to smile slightly at this.

"That is because I sent out a few… "Examiners", in order to find the, "Raw Talent" we are looking for. They have free hands as long as they don't kill everyone… Again."

Jacob and Barry started chuckling.

"Hey, you know as well as I do, nuns don't usually go around with enough armaments to take over a city, they had been to prison and I don't regret it a single bit."

"Let's just see how… And there are two dead."

 **Frostbite road**

The battle… was going poorly.

Several of the mercenaries were wounded and some had been killed by the shadows, luckily there were more than a few that stood and defended the wounded. The battle between the gladiator and the spear woman was rather amusing… to say the least.

"Grr, Stand Still!"

The woman said nothing and merely dodged more of his attacks with unparalleled flexibility.

"Hmpf, so the little woman knows how to dodge, eh? Such weakness is frowned upon in my cit-AGH!"

As he babbled, the woman had feigned a dodge and managed to stab him in the unprotected area near his throat. As he desperately tried to rip it out, she flipped herself forward and landed atop the spear with extreme precision, right in front of his face.

"…"

She said nothing, but the warrior could have sworn he heard her whisper: "Scream"

His pained shouts were drowned out by the sounds of on-going battle.

Meanwhile, with the knight… Wait he's screwed too.

"Ngh! The chains will not hold me vile woman! I, Sir William GalahAGAZAZAAZ!"

He never got to finish his sentence, as the woman used the chains to fry him alive with the electricity that arched around her.

"Mm, fresh meat."

As she said this the armoured woman moved towards the corpse with a blade held high, she was interrupted by one of the shadows.

"No" it whispered in a hushed tone

"There are more to fight".

With that she turned towards the battle and walked forth

 **Hell's guard**

"Was-Was she gonna eat that?!"

Samuel simply took a sip of his beer

"Yup"

The other men stayed silent

 **Frostbite road, caravan**

Brad and Akiba had been pushed back towards the wagon, all remaining mercenaries who could fight were holding a defensive perimeter around them, and they were outnumbered, out skilled and completely surrounded. But as all hope seemed lost and the three "demons" for lack of better words, approached them. A mighty voice called out!

"Enough."

As if a switch had been flipped, everything stopped, the fighting had ceased and the advancing enemies stopped in their tracks. As everyone turned towards the voice, most of the mercs were left breathless, there, on top of the hill, stood a legend made reality.

Samuel Steele.

The man known as: Colonel Steel, Titanium titan, the Commander and the current King of Kombat.

He was standing at an uphill slope looking down at the battlefield; he then uttered a sentence that blew the minds of many.

"Well done, you have all passed initiation, get to the medical bay for check-up and report to the main hall when you are ready for orientation."

There was a silence so intense that all you heard was the wind blowing

"Unless all of you planned to get frostbite… MOVE THE FUCK UP AND GET IN THE BUILDING!"

That got their attention as everyone scrambled to get their luggage and moved towards the building behind Samuel. Meanwhile a few soldiers had come and started carrying the wounded towards the medical bay. Brad and Akiba however moved towards Samuel intent on getting some answers

"E-excuse me, sir."

"Call me Sam, or Boss. Whatever fits ya."

"W-wow calling the legendary Samuel Steele by nickname! THIS IS SO AWESOME! Can you believe it?! I cannot believe it!"

Brad however chose to get answers.

"Sir, I must ask, what was the test? If it were combat, none of us would have passed. So what was it?"

Samuel turned towards him and uttered a single word.

"Trust."

"…What?"

"Trust, my boy. I wanted to see if anyone here trusted a stranger, and luckily most of you did. Those who were lone wolves fell quickly to their opponents; their arrogance was their fall. But you two!"

As he said this has large hands landed on their shoulders, probably dislocating Johnny's.

"You two went as partners to combat a dangerous foes, and you, "Dark Horse", you gave good priority orders and commanded on the battlefield well. That is what makes me proud to make you squad leader."

The two boys looked shocked

"Squad leader?"

Samuel gave a nod

"Indeed, you have the prowess of a leader, and you already have a squad mate here, I look forward to seeing what you two will be doing. Now if you excuse me, my daughter is attempting cannibalism."

As he walked away they could hear him shout: "RAINA, NO! PUT THAT DOWN! DROP IT! I TOLD YOU A HUNDRED TIMES ONLY TO DO IT TO SURVIVE!"

They looked at Samuel and then at eachother.

"I look forward to serving under your command, sir!"

As he said this he made a crisp salute, while shivering slightly from the cold.

Brad looked at his comrade in arms and cracked a rare, yet small, smile.

"Alright, "Private". Let's go."

And as they walked towards the building, they thought about how the future would be for them now… Until Johnny loudly exclaimed: "Wait… WE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

The new mercenaries have arrived, and more are coming.

 **?, Secluded room**

A man walked towards a large orb on a table, he put his hand on the orb. He then stepped back and removed his helm, letting his blonde hair free and his orange eyes shine in the dimmed room.

Suddenly a large image of several individuals showed itself, they all had names, most likely famous, but to the individual they were merely the magic council.

"Ah, former Colonel Steel. How good of you to finally call."

He held back a frown.

"Councillors, I am here with the report."

"Very well, continue."

"Construction is nearing completion, we are finishing up the armoury right now, we have recruited several individuals of the ones that were sent, fortunately there were many with potential."

"Hm, we distinctly remember sending you many that we considered the most efficient for this operation. What was the problem?"

He resisted the urge to face palm.

"Councillor, those men who failed to pass were lone wolves, they cared little for the lives of their comrades, and they could easily turn into a problem in case they have no loyalty to their comrades."

The councillors took this into discussion while Samuel stood there listening, wishing he could go out and do some missions, but alas this was necessary.

"What is their fate?"

"They are all KIA"

This caused a few eyebrows to temporarily rise.

"And how?"

"They were killed during the initial tests, their combat proficiency was average but their arrogance led to their defeat, I managed to recover the payment however."

This seemed to get the approval of the councillors, as they nodded heads and seemed to say words along the lines of: "Well done" and "good thinking"

"Ah, as usual Samuel, your quick thinking and efficient handling is most appreciated. Would you perhaps consider re-joining, we can grant you the rank of co-"

"I am sorry councillors but something urgent has come up, I shall see you at the next report meeting.

With that being said, Samuel deactivated the lacrima, put on his helmet and headed out. But not before punching a wall rather hard.

A/N: Phew, one hell of a chapter! Longest one I've written, anyway onto business!

I would like to thank klbubblepop786 for sending in the first official character to the story. I hope I portrayed him right! I am still looking for more characters here, and remember dying is optional!

Brad "Dark Horse" Exsion – Kbubblepop786

Johnny "Akiba" Silverburgh – Benthino


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3; "Go time"

Previously on Hell's guard

"Carriages"

"Frozen wasteland"

"SPIDERS!"

"Dark Horse"

"Akiba"

"Subjects"

"Examiners"

"Initiation"

"WE COULD HAVE DIED?!"

 **Hell's guard. Barracks, Akiba's journal**

My first day as a member of Hell's guard was cold, snowy and chaotic, nothing at all like what I was taught back in boot camp. Of course that's pretty much how it was for all of us wasn't it? All that training all those years of preparing, dosen't really prepare you for all the screaming, all the blood now does it? Frankly I'm amazed I survived the first hour, never mind the rest of the day.

 **Hell's guard. Barracks**

Johnny was writing in his little journal while lying in his bed, it had been two days since the initiation and he was rather proud to have survived and been given such an awesome leader, they had also been given a few new squad mates from a few recruitment drives. One of them was "Wild Buzzard", explosives specialist, quite simple minded. The other was a reconnaissance specialist; his code name was "Angry Chameleon", surprisingly he was almost always calm. They were all currently doing their things, Brad was cleaning his guns meticulously, Buzzard (Who prefers to be called Buzz), was tinkering with a few of his "Boom sticks". And Chameleon (Who they all settled to call Cam) was unsurprisingly enough, surveying a map.

The silence and tranquillity in the room was broken by an intercom message.

"Attention all newbies, we're having a few guest comin' over, so be on yer best behaviour and come to the main hall, over."

This got the attention of everyone in the room: Special guests?

"Who do you think is coming?" asked Cam

"You guys think it's Sam's boss?" Buzzard asked with great enthusiasm

"There would be no reason for him to come here." The voice of reason, or Brad as we know him said.

"…We could just go and see."

And with that closing statement, Johnny and the rest of them walked towards the main hall.

 **Hell's guard, Main Hall.**

As they entered the room, all around them they could see the other recruits, and among them were several guards and even some of "Sam's lieutenants" as they were called. Johnny, Buzz and Cam all shuddered at the memory. Up on a stage stood Samuel, being flanked by Jacob and Jack, he then began speaking.

"Alright recruits, today you will be given an actual contract."

There was rather loud cheering coming from all of everyone in the room. Finally! They could show some pros what they're made of!

As their cheering quieted down, several individuals entered the stage, all of them standing in a line and looking far different from what everyone had expected.

The one on the far left wore what seemed to be a dark blue and orange armor, with a mask divided in the middle by the two colours, with a red eye on the orange side. His armaments consisted of two pistols, two machine pistols, a large rifle and a large sword.

He seemed, for lack of better words, "done" with the man standing next to him.

Said man wore a red full bodysuit, a pair of katanas crossed like an X, a small belt where the buckle looked like a red circle, divided by a red line with two black halves and a pair of small white splotches looking like eyes, his mask looked just like the belt. He appeared to be… wearing a "sombrero"? Really?

"Hey, I gotta get in the mood to eat chimichangas! Mmm, Muy Caliente!"

Wait, you again!

"Yeah! Can't believe you forgot me!"

"Maybe all the stress from schoolwork is getting to the author?"

"Nah, he's probably a lazy dick"

ENOUGH! Back to the story!

Standing next to the ninja man-

"Merc with the mouth."

WHATEVER!

Ahem… Thirdly from the left stood a man with what seemed like a blue full bodysuit, a few straps with pockets here and there, a pair of white straps that let him carry a round shield on his back, and a sword to go with it. His most unique feature was probably the skull like mask he was wearing that looked perfectly neutral.

He was looking at the red one wile shaking his head slowly with his arms crossed.

The fourth individual didn't seem to care about the others, he looked old and worn, and he had several scars along the right side of his face. As well as a, "dead eye". He was wearing orange/yellowish armor with a white stripe running straight down the centre, he had black gauntlets but his right one left his arm exposed, showing everyone the black, intricate tattoo on it.

The next man was, well… Basically he looked like Jacob's brother, at least clothing wise with a duster, jeans and boots. He was wearing a wide brim hat that looked pretty awesome on him… Meanwhile Jacob was scowling fiercely, as he really, really wanted that hat.

The man also had a strange breathing apparatus covering his lower face and nose, only giving us a view of his deep red irises. It was hooked to his back where a small metal contraption was located.

"Cowboy", was glaring upon the final man, he was wearing a silvery armor that seemed to have a dark blue and almost purple under suit, in his arm he was holding a helmet that would cover his entire face. It was coloured similarly to his armour's sliver plating but had a black T-shaped visor that he could look through, with blue spanning along its edges and outwards as a decoration, it also seemed to have a small antennae on top of it's right side. He also had a sort of backpack with what seemed to be a rocket on top of it. His black hair and tanned skin was nothing irregular compared to your everyday man.

As the guests took the stage, Samuel decided to speak once again.

"In front of you, are Fiore's best and deadliest mercenaries. They have completed contracts that would make you faint, blush, and throw up. And in some extreme cases… Explode."

As he said this the mercenaries brought out their weapons of choice, wanting to make a good impression.

"First and foremost, the armoured man to the left is Slade Wilson, one of, if not the, greatest tactical mind in Fiore, plotted out over 43 nearly flawless assassinations. Codename: "Deathstroke"

The man in question crossed his arms and gazed upon the crowd.

"… I can work with… Some of you."

Samuel moved on to the next man, the one in red

"Yes! Our turn!"

"Huzzah."

"Oh man! I wonder what our achievement will be… Sexiness? Handsomeness?" A hyped voice asked.

"Quite difficult when we look like a donkey's ass on fire." A rather eloquent voice said.

"Shh, here he comes."

Eh, anyway.

"This is Wade Wilson, the arguably most popular mercenary for comedic purposes, he has completed more suicide missions than you have had meals since you got here.

His codename: "Deadpool"

"Laaaaame!"

"To be fair, what else could he have said?"

"Meh, guess you're right"

Everyone became wide-eyed at that statement and stared at the red clad man who just stood proudly with his hands on his hips.

Samuel, ignoring this somehow, moved to the next one.

"This is without a doubt the greatest trainer of soldiers, mercenaries and martial arts students. He has copied almost every known combat style with: sword and shield, hand-to-hand and some impressive gunplay. He has a photographic memory and a love for money. His name is Tony Masters… Or as his codename so amusingly states: "Taskmaster".

Said "master" looked at the soldiers in front of him.

"Hm… I look forward to unlocking your… Potential abilities as we work together."

This caused a few of the men to get a little… Unsettled by the skull mask combined with his eerie calm voice.

Next the old man in the front spoke up.

"I thought we were having a briefing, not a goddamn meet and greet with tea."

Everyone stared at the man with wide eyes at his blatant disrespect to everyone in the room, while Samuel merely chuckled.

"This is Zaeed Massani, arguably the oldest and most experienced mercenary in Fiore, has done more missions than even me and my lieutenants combined."

This caused Zaeed to crack a smile.

"I still remember when you first started, wet behind the ears and didn't know your close combat gear from your sabotage charges. Ha ha ha!"

"Moving on. This is one of the most devious and cunning mercs in the business, he has pulled off jobs like assassinating rune knight captains and killing mob sons, stolen relics and even escaping secured prisons, all planned by himself."

The man tipped his hat slightly to his "audience".

"Cad Bane, at your service. I'll do any job, for the right price."

And finally Samuel moved to the final man.

"And finally we have the most ruthless, popular, skilled and most hired mercenary/bounty hunter in Fiore. Jango Fett!"

The man in question merely waved while applause rolled in, Bane was scowling at him, as he really didn't like him.

"These gentlemen will be your handlers, contractors, bosses, whatever you want to call them. They all have missions that need completion, and you are all going to complete them."

There were hushed murmurs around the room as everyone discussed what they wanted to do.

"Remember, if you do well in these missions there is an increased chance for getting sponsored by a pro, if that happens you will get more missions, more missions means more money, and more money leads to… Well it is all up to you by then."

This caused a widespread silence around the room.

"Well… What are you waiting for? GET GOING!"

This caused a massive amount of them to run towards the different mercenaries in order to get an interesting job.

Meanwhile, our little squadron was having a small discussion.

"I feel as if we should go with Deathstroke, he appears to be the most well planned individual."

"I disagree Brad, Taskmaster seems to have more of an intrigue, besides he might be able to assist us by teaching us new combat maneuvers."

"Fuck that, let's go with Jango! No Zaeed! No Deadpool!"

Johnny looked at his teammates while they "discussed" where they wanted to go.

"Uh, guys… Wouldn't it be smarter to find out what mission types we'll be taking with each leader, so we don't end up getting… You know, killed?"

This seemed to silence the others for a while.

Before they all agreed it would be the best way to decide who to follow.

 **Somewhere in Fiore, Maximum Security Prison**

Currently, most of the prison was in flames, several inmates were fighting the guards, while many other were setting fire to cells and other parts of the building. It seemed as if they would escape and spread havoc across Fiore! However in one cell there was a single man dressed in a black hoodie, a pair of jeans, a pair of black flat toe shoes, he was currently eating pudding and was attempting to relax. However the current riot was making that hard.

"Guys, c'mon knock it off."

And simple like that, everyone stared at his cell… Before promptly returning to their own cells and gently closed them as they all said things like:

"Sorry boss."

"Our bad, our bad"

"It was Jimmy"

"We are sorry, Alex"

And so he continued to eat the pudding while humming to himself… Sitting in the remains of his, uh… "Former" cellmates, all the blood made it hard to guess how many there had been. It didn't seem to bother him much, but there was a reason he was nicknamed: "The Butcher".

 **Meanwhile. Eastern Fiore. Blood Gulch.**

A large amount of bodies were surrounding a single individual clothed from head to toe in combat gear, they were bringing up a small lacrima that showed a picture of an old man wearing a robe that covered his eyes, yet it showed his mouth and nose.

"It seems your mission was a success, hunter. From this point I'll deal with the rest myself."

As the line went dead, the hunter brought out a large and fierce looking machete and added a small notch in it; there were now eight small scars in the metal. The hunter then began heading west, there were more jobs to do before they were done here, and soon they would find him.

As they set off, the only proof of their involvement, was the large skull burnt into the building, and a word written in blood: Revenant.

A/N: Annnnd there we go! A small glimpse into the future! I thank you all for being patient and supportive! And as you can see, we have new characters entering the screen! You can obviously tell which aren't mine. Anyway, still looking for a few more characters here people.

Oh! And I am making a little competition, there are several references to other media in this chapter, I want to see who recognizes most!

So the rules are simple.

PM me all the ones you can find

Please do not use the Internet to find answers, you can but that takes the fun out of it.

The six best get to choose a mission type for our young mercs to go on! It can be anything from hostage taking to cat rescue!

Good luck and happy hunting!

Angry Chameleon – Benthino

Wild Buzzard – Benthino


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: "Well Fuck"

Previously on Hell's Guard

"A few guests are comin' over"

"Today you will be given an actual contract"

"Chimichangas!"

"Probably a dick"

"Huzzah"

"It was Jimmy"

"I'll deal with them myself"

 **Northern Fiore, Hell's Guard**

Samuel was sitting by a desk within his office doing paperwork, and for a change he was not wearing his helmet. He was signing weapon imports, munitions costs, manpower recruitments, personnel casualties and of course collateral damages done in operations. He was just finishing up a budget plan for this month's armament budget, when there was a knocking on his door.

"Enter."

As he said this, the door was opened and Jack stepped in with a slightly worried face.

"Jack, what is it? Did Jacob ruin something you needed again?"

"No, no it's fine. It's just that…"

"Yes?"

"Are you certain it was a good idea to send out all the rookies for real contracts so soon? They haven't even gotten used to their squadrons!"

Samuel sighed, stood up from the desk and walked towards his old friend, while putting his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Jack, I know you worry about her and the others, but you have to realize that they need to take risks here, if we constantly shield them from the horrors of the world it is far more likely they will die. If we make them face dangers they will become battle hardened and ready for the future."

Jack gave a sad sigh.

"I just… I really never got over losing someone close to me; I don't think I could handle losing these kids. They all have something special about them, a future and here they are, wasting it while killing others. Hell, back when we were their age all we were worried about was getting girls! Not contracts!"

Samuel gave a small chuckle

"You remember Emma?"

Jack shuddered

"Okay, I'll admit she was all kinds of scary and crazy but this is different!"

"Jack, don't worry, they are grouped together with some of the best men I have ever worked with! So please, calm down and… Where's Jacob?"

There was a silence… Followed by a large bang

"GYAH!"

Samuel sighed

"Of course."

"I'll get the med kit."

 **Central Fiore, Tenpenny Tower**

"So you see Mr. Fett, this is why discretion is of the utmost importance."

Jango nodded his head

"My young co-workers and I will do our job, I guarantee it."

While Jango was speaking to their contract, Brad and Johnny were having a conversation of utmost importance.

"So… why are we here again?"  
Brad sighed and placed a hand on his face.

"Ok, allow me to explain again. Pay attention this time."

Johnny nodded

"We were hired by Mr Tenpenny to ensure his annual party will go as planned. It will have dignitaries and giants in the industrial sector of Fiore so this will be a prime target for say an assassination. And that's where we come in."

"Ah, so we are bodyguards!"

"Not quite. We mustn't draw suspicion to ourselves."

But before Johnny could ask further, Jango walked up to them

"Alright, the plan is simple: I will be hiding in the rafters in order to make sure no snipers or anything take point. It is up to you two to cover up any uninvited guests with a "hands on" approach. And keep it subtle, last thing we need is a panicked bunch of moneybags."  
The two nodded

"Don't worry sir, Akiba and I shall handle this with utmost care."

"Yeah… Wait, will I need a suit for this?"

There was a silence

"Well fuck." Jango muttered silently.

 **Southern Fiore, Councillor Meeting Palace**

Cad bane had gathered his small group of mercs, this was a tough job and he would need the best of the best for it... Or at least the best rookies he could find on such short notice.

"Alright, settle down! We'll be springing a certain individual out of prison, and to do that we need the permission from the people at this here party. However, they want him to stay in so we will need to be."

He gave a small smile hidden under his re-breather.

"Persuasive"

Rey nodded, he had trained his entire life for something like this. Now he was standing next to official mercenaries and bounty hunters while accompanying them on a real mission! Nothing could ruin this moment! NOTHING!

"Mr Bane, sir!"

Everyone turned towards the voice; it was Raina who was standing with her hand stretched upwards.

"Ye?"

"If we are forced to kill, will I be allowed to eat them?"

Everyone gave her confused or slightly terrified stares, but Bane just laughed.

"Sure kid, whatever you want."

Unfortunately, Bane only thought she was joking. He also missed the many gestures Rey was making in order to warn him.

"Now, let's talk to some councillors."

It was too late and they started preparing for the mission, as Rey entered the front with Bane, one thought occupied his mind.

"Well fuck"

 **Club Omega, Central Fiore**

Zaeed didn't consider himself a lucky man, in fact he considered himself to be a rather skilled individual who made his own luck. However with these two at his hands he could not help but to thank lady luck.

"I keep telling you Buzz, A GRYPHON CANNOT WIELD A CHAINSAW AND CANNOT DEFEAT JASON VOORHEES!"

"FUCK YOU CAM! YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NOTHING!"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!"

"…WELL, FUCK YOU!"

Zaeed laughed quietly to himself, they hadn't even started their briefing and these kids were already somehow in a fight concerning a mythical creature and a movie character. What made it extra amusing was how passionate they were about it, he had to admit: Sam knew how to pick 'em! He should probably break up the fight before something stupid happens… Soon.

 **Northern Fiore, Mountain Border**

The "Mountain Border" was aptly named so for it's intimidating size, but also because it divided two larger areas with it long chain of mountains. It was also home to many hideouts for mercenaries, hermits and probably psychopaths who didn't get the memo about the predators. Standing on a ledge was the infamous mercenary Deathstroke, using his customized rifle he spotted a small convoy of people moving onwards, he removed the rifle and turned to his young two helpers.

"…Names?"

The two rookies immediately started saluting.

"Sir! Frida "Kong" Meyer! Explosive mage, demolitions specialist!"

He gave a nod to the eager little blonde woman, her crisp salute and young age made it seem most amusing.

He then turned to the black haired male.

"Sir, Kirill "Fireball" Sidorov. Flame specialist and cover destruction master."

He nodded once more.

"Excellent, a convoy carrying one rather important politician is passing through these mountains as a "safer passage" than the main road. I have been contracted to take him out. Unfortunately he has a reinforced, bulletproof carriage. So I can't get him while he is in there, I could wait for him to reach his destination, but the contractor wants this done now."

The youngsters nodded.

"So, you two will find a way to get him out, and I will take the shot, make it look like you are also being targeted. Will probably get your guild a few points."

The two youngsters looked ecstatic.

"YES SIR!"

With that said, they ran off to prepare their little act, all the while Deathstroke got into position. He saw them start punching eachother on the way and trip over themselves.

A single thought went through his mind.

"Well fuck."

 **Western Fiore, Samantha's Tacos**

Here we see the next batch of youngsters…

"A pap ap! Let me handle this one old man."

Deadpool, I am seriously considering-

"Yeah, yeah, yeah just shut up."

"Yeah! We're gonna tell the story now."

"Unfortunately, things may get weird."

"Hey, weird is our thing. Now sit back and enjoy the awesome!"

"Uh, Mr. Pool?"

He turned towards the other two occupants of the table he was sitting at.

"Who… Whom were you talking to?"

"Oh, the author of course!"

"…Author?"

"To the story."

"What story?"

"The one we're in, c'mon keep up!"

"I, uh, wha, he?

"Killian, please don't try to figure it out, just nod and maybe he will stop."

"Ah, yes, the story. The story we are currently in. The story we are currently in that is about us. Our story."

"Yeah, this kid gets it!"

"Or he is just desperately pretending in order to not die from overthinking something."

"Come to think of it. Who are you two?"

The two boys (Preferred term MEN) took this chance to not only introduce them but to stop this maddening conversation.

The black haired youth started first.

"My name is Moon Liu, I specialize in hacking and infiltrating."

The orange haired one started next.

"The name is Killian O'Reilly, healer, support and maker of baked potatoes."

"Mhm, mhm. Well fuck those names, now you're Jammer and Sentinel."

"… But why?"

"Because I said so."

And with that storytelling skill, Deadpool went back to eating his chimichangas while the two young mercs: Now christened "Jammer" and "Sentinel". Were left to ponder why they were sitting there with him.

He never did specify their job.

 **Eastern Fiore, Secret location**

Two heavily armed troopers walked through a metallic hallway were dragging a man along the floor with a door to the right. As they entered there was a pair of cloaked individuals standing at attention, before the guards threw the man at the wall where chains almost automatically wrapped around him and locked him in place. Wasting no time, one of them walked up to the man and made a blade appear in their hand before touching the man and electrocuting him, fiercely.

"You will remain conscious, Mr. Ropal.

Said the other one in a rather well spoken way with a definite feminine tone.

"Our handler has a few questions for you."

Said the one with the blade.

"Well, let's get started, attach electro probes, pain pulsars and a full dose of XC-33"

The male nodded and fetched the items.

Not too long after, the mercenary appeared. His skull like mask intimidating even his own allies, and his suit made him look ready for any conflict. He gave a hand signal and electricity flowed through the man in chains making him scream in pain.

"Simply give me the code to this box of yours, so I can get the information I need and your suffering will come to an end."

The man looked up and stared at the skull-faced man, spat some blood at his boots and said in a weakened yet defiant tone.

"You will… Never get me… To unlock the…Box!"

"Unfortunately, I don't have time to discuss this with you. Hit him again! Full power!"

And so the male activated the device, which forced a powerful torrent of energy into the man. Making him cry out in pain even more than before.

The woman, while her face was covered, seemed a bit concerned about their prisoner.

"I'm not sure how much more of this he can take."

"Are you a medical worker?"

"Um, no sir."

"Then step back and shut up."

"Yes sir."

As she said this with a slightly downtrodden attitude she stepped back in silence.

"More power."

With a small and annoyed huff at how his partner was treated, the man increased the output while the prisoner continued screaming before suddenly going silent as they turned off the machine.

"We have lost all his vital signs."

Taskmaster seemed not to believe it.

"Check."

The man walked towards the body and drove his blade into the prisoner's body, not so much as garnering a twitch from the electricity.

The woman added with a saddened tone.

"He is no longer responding,"

Taskmaster gave an annoyed huff.

"Drop him"

As the body hit the floor with a loud metallic thud, the woman walked up to it and examined it.

"He is dead."

Taskmaster took up a thinking pose.

"Looks like we'll have to find another agent to open the box."

As he said this, he turned around and brought out his blade.

"Only next time, I will try a different method. Krytus, Lucretzia! Clean up the mess."

The two figures nodded and removed their hoods, showing their faces.

They were so similar it was scary! Their faces looked so lean and royal that they could easily have been mistaken for it. Their skin was fair and completely unblemished. Their hair was as white as snow while Krytus had short and slightly spikey, Lucretzia had longer yet slightly spikey around her fringes like her partner. What were more unsettling were their blood red eyes, filled with obedience and determination. Without, even a shred of mercy. They responded to the order in a perfectly synchronized voice.

"Yes sir."

As they removed the body, Taskmaster gave a small smile under his mask. He couldn't wait to learn about their skills and abilities.

 **Maximum Security Prison**

Commander Neronicus was having a good day. No riot attempts, no shanking, no murder and best of all: Alexander was not causing any trouble! Nothing could ruin this day! NOTHING!

"Nero! Nerooooooo!"

And like that, it was ruined.

"Ugh, Ignore him Nero, think of Olleg back home, think of the other animals and how much fun it'll be."

"Nero! Come on! We're gonna have fuuuun!"

He gave an annoyed sigh and walked towards the cell where Alexander was locked up.

"Nero you came!"

"Yes, yes now what do you want to do?"

Alex gave a smile

"I was thinking. We get a PUPPY!"

There was uproar of approval from all prisoners around.

"No."

There was a collection of disappointed AWWs.

"B-But why?!"

Nero gave a deadpan look.

"You are all PRISONERS, in PRISON."

"And?"

He slammed his palm into his face.

"In prison we do not give out PETS!"

"AW, c'mon Nero!"

"Yeah, please!"

"We won't even shank it! Honest!"

"Take care of it everyday!"

With his hand over his face he gave a loud and annoyed groan.

"You guys realize it takes a lot of effort to raise a dog?"

There was a chorus of yeahs and yeps.

"You also know I won't be around all the time to help as well?"

Everyone nodded and confirmed.

He sighed again.

"I am in charge of some of the most bloodthirsty prisoners in Fiore and they all want a puppy. You all better be on better than your best behaviour if I get you one."

There was a loud cheer across the entire prison block as everyone chanted his nickname over and over again.

"Why, Sam? Why did you have to quit? I have been here for a week and they act like I'm their uncle. Why me?"

And with that lament over he went towards the pet store.

 **Southern Fiore, Death trail**

The "Death trail" was nicknamed by numerous mercenaries and mages making their way through. Often in a party of several and never made it through without losing anyone. It always claimed a soul or two through scorching heat, lethal predators, rockslides and bandits who want some fresh loot.

Unfortunately, this one was not for the taking.

In the middle of a widely open area, there were several ambushes in the past, always taking a life or two. Sadly they picked the wrong target to attack.

The usual dry landscape was smeared in blood and innards, several men and women had their spines and other vital bones removed and then impaled back into their host.

"NO! NO! NOAUGH-!"

A lone bandit was running from the person and soon found most of his lower jaw splattered across the ground ahead of him. He gave a pitiful gurgling and fell forward dead.

Revenant, currently top of the blood list (list of most brutal mercs) a few pints of blood from the King of Kombat title, walked towards the last remaining bandit.

"P-Please! Don't kill me! I-I'll do anything!"

There was an eerie silence; Revenant then lowered itself to the quivering woman.

Removing a pair of shades, a pair of burning orange eyes stared at the terrified woman ahead.

"Councillors. Now."

"W-What?"

The machete was unsheathed and brought towards the woman.

"T-T-The f-fastest w-way to the c-council m-m-meeting spot is t-that way!"

She pointed towards a large boulder.

Revenant seemed pleased with this answer and removed the machete, before staring at the young bandit.

"I-I promises to-to get an actual j-job! Honest!"

Unfortunately Revenant brought their hand towards her face.

"W-wait! "W-what are you doing?!"

She then felt a powerful burning sensation all over her face as Revenant grabbed it. She then released the woman, still alive yet she seemed to have a light bluish handprint on her face, and as she rose to her feet, all the fear seemed gone. She turned towards Revenant and bowed to it.

"Take charge, gather information."

The woman nodded and walked towards an encampment not far from there.

Revenant however walked towards the boulder and somehow conjured a large blade from their right arm and sliced through the boulder; it fell sideways while it looked as if it had melted slightly from it.

As Revenant moved forward, there was a perfect ledge overlooking the councillor-meeting hall, with a large downhill towards the hall that could be easily traversed in order to reach it fast.

Revenant then unclipped the rifle on it's back and grabbed a scope.

"Bane, in position."

"Excellent Revenant, we'll move soon you all set up?"

"Yes, I got you in my sights."

She could see his smug smile through the re-breather

"Good, the guards are gonna be on alert soon, let's get this started."

 **A/N:** First of all: Sorry for taking so long! Motivation and school have both been either screwed or scrapped so I've been unable to write as much as I want. Hope you enjoyed the start of this new little Arc. So no one really did care bout the little competition but that's ok, I just hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

We have now seen what jobs the mercs will put our youngsters through, I hope you all will review and whatnot if something is unclear or needs betterment. Also it would be nice with a little mail here and there. And yes, characters are still being accepted if anyone cares. Also I hope someone will get that last little scene, clever little reference if I do say so myself. (I just did, heh.)

Krytus and Lucretzia – Benthino

Fireball and Kong – Benthino


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5: "Thriving on Conflict"

Previously on Hell's Guard

"I'll get the med kit"

"I guarantee it"

"The author of course."

"Let's go talk to some councillors"

"Hit him again, full power!"

"In position, got you in my sights"

 **Northern Fiore, Hell's Guard, Main hall**

"Impossible…"

"No man should be able to do that."

"He is a demon I tell ya!"

"Gods have mercy."

There was a small crowd of guards who were gathered around something in the middle of the room. This garnered the attention of Jacob who had just gotten out from the med bay after an accident revolving exploding shells of fired guns. He looked to the gathering and walked towards it with relatively calm steps, when he arrived his mouth dropped open as he stared in complete awe.

Samuel was sitting in the middle of the gathering, playing "Super Mario", what was shocking was the fact that he was doing it with his eyes closed, and was going fast and safely towards victory. He had been doing this for over an hour, as a timer confirmed right next to him.

The only one in the room who didn't seem majorly impressed was Jack; he was simply sitting at the side with a steaming cup of tea while he was reading the newspaper, there was a most enjoyable article about Ced Truz being a "Zodiac Killer", what was more amusing was that people believed it. He was just about to take a sip, when there was a sudden uproar among the men, and he spilt the tea all over his new robe.

"HE FUCKING DID IT!"

"HOLY FUCK WITH HIS EYES CLOSED!"

"MAMA FUCKING MIA!"

Jack gave a tired sigh and a small smile. Samuel must have beat the game, the men rarely got to do something remotely interesting since all they currently do is guard the base. So a few shenanigans now and then are allowed, he was just about to get up and make a fresh pot when the intercom suddenly flared to life.

"Uh, Sirs. We have a bit of a situation here."

Jack grabbed his writs communicator.

"What is it "Gate watcher"?

"Sir, it's someone who wants to uh, join."

"So, let them in."

"Uh, we'd rather you come and se-"

"UH REVIEW THE SITUATION PERSONALLY, SIR!"

Jack looked at the device questioningly, what was so weird that it needed them to go personally. Well, one headache at a time.

"Jacob, the door requires your attention."

"What?! Why do I have to go?!

Jack simply raised an eyebrow

"Kaboom?"

Jacob visibly deflated

"Oh. Right."

He merely stood up and went towards the entrance, muttering something about ass-hats and doorways on his way. When he finally met the two concerned guards, they immediately saluted him and pointed towards the door.

As he opened it he saw a young girl, what was so scary about her?

He looked her over, said nothing for a while before uttering a big huge: "NOPE."

And walked back inside.

The girl on the other side was simply smiling slightly as she sometimes had that effect on people because of her appearance. Not many had seen something like her and she understood. There was a sudden influx of sound on the other side; she heard what might be the man who nope'd shouting at a more refined a calmer one, the refined one seemed to be bringing up a valid point, and two weaker (Whom she realised were the guards) were giving a small input now and then. As she kept standing for a minute there suddenly was a sound of several slams and the door opening.

Samuel had gotten fairly pissed, not only did his men not stop praising him about his small endeavour, now his two closest lieutenants and two guardsmen were discussing whether it was weird to have body parts sewed together while the guards stood around giving a few off hand comments and pointing out good arguments. Unfortunately for them, Samuel knew how to deal with this type of idiocy. He then proceeded to slam them all into a wall each via punching; he then proceeded to open the doors.

In front of him stood a short (to him everyone is short) young woman who was looking rather happy. Her long black hair was in a high ponytail, her white lipstick stood out rather obviously on her otherwise tanned skin, and she had a piercing going all the way through in her right ear, while on the left she had a white industrial bar. Her clothes were fairly simple; she wore a white long sleeved shirt with a black smiley, a pair of black jeans and a pair of regular leather sandals. She looked like any normal old girl. Oh yeah, her eyes were sewn together. Forgot about that.

Samuel stood and stared at the young beauty in front of him.

She "stared back", with a smile.

She was just about to say something when Samuel beat her to the punch.

"You're hired."

There was complete silence.

Followed by a large amount of "What?" from everyone present.

"Samuel, we have just met her and you want to hire her?"

"Yes."

"Sammy, you know how much I trust you."

"You don't"

"Exactly! Sow why should we let some rando chick in when we don't even know her name?!"

Samuel seemed to contemplate upon this before turning to the woman in question.

"What's your name?"

She was shook out of her stupor and answered.

"Ancheindo"

Samuel nodded

"Alright Anchovy you're hired. Let's see if we can get a position where you can view how we do things here."

The others were sitting in shock over what he had just done. While it had been funny, it was a little risky to make fun of someone and their condition almost instantly after meeting them. They sat with baited breath and once more dropped their jaws as they heard laughter.

Feminine laughter.

She was laughing at Samuel's horrible humour!

"That was quite funny, I can actually "SEE" what you did there"

She gave a small giggle while Samuel gave a smile.

"I think you'll fit right in here!"

As they walked off, Jack could only shake his head while Jacob rubbed the back of his.

"By the way, what is your magic?"

And as he said this she suddenly stopped him, grabbed a glass that had some water in it and ran her finger around the rim, before pointing at three random guards in the building.

"Floor collapse."

"Trip over shoes"

"Spontaneous combustion"

Two of the three predictions were true.

"Well, we got ourselves a "Sweet Doll" with prophetic powers."

"I look forward to serving alongside you all."

"… How good are you at drinking?"

"Pardon?"

 **Central Fiore, Tenpenny Tower**

The party was going on successfully, everyone was having a good time, the rookies were blending in perfectly and Jango had yet to find an assassin stupid enough to attack. He was sitting in the rafters when he caught a glimpse of someone on the third floor, finally some action. He started up his pack and flew towards it, finding someone setting up a rifle; he never did grow tired of assassinating assassins, they always looked so surprised.

Brad was actually enjoying himself, usually when he had a few missions they had been downright awful, blood everywhere, guns blazing and whatnot. Now he could just relax and kill with silent efficiency, and he really enjoyed the attention from the other gents.

"And you see, if you wear a darker suit it will cover the splotches but be wary as sweat stains may become a problem."

There were several nods of agreement from the crowd that was intent on learning proper suit maintenance. His trained eye then spotted someone walking towards the balcony, what caught his attention was the small metallic object poorly hidden in his coat. He moved to intercept them at the balcony as Mr Tenpenny himself was there.

Meanwhile, Johnny was slightly uncomfortable, as he never was used to large crowds focusing on him, especially when it was a lot of pretty ladies.

"U-Um, ladies please can't we just calm down I'm sure a simple conversation would be stimulating enough."

(Dammit Brad you had to tell me to speak fancy like to fit in!)

"Oh, well aren't we the little thesaurus, what else can that tongue of yours do?"

"SORRY GOTTA GO!"

And with that he left his little collection of naughty ladies. He looked pretty good in a white suit, even though he insisted on wearing the shades. It fit him quite well.

As he stood by an open window a well-dressed woman in a crimson dress with black heels approached him she wore a black, lacy carnival mask that covered her face, yet it showed her amber eyes.

"For an old man, Tenpenny knows how to throw a party."

As he turned around, Johnny noticed the absolutely stunning woman. However something else caught his attention.

"I don't know, with age comes wisdom after all."

"Hm, touché. May I ask why someone with such a handsome face covers his eyes?"

"Only if I may ask why one with such beautiful eyes covers her face."

"Perhaps it is for that special someone."

"Indeed, or perhaps because we all have something to hide."

Meanwhile Mr Tenpenny was making an announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has been such a delight to have you all here! As every year I would like to propose a toast. For a brighter future! And for new friends!"

As guests around started cheering, the three assassins soon found themselves appropriated.

There was a dripping coming from the rafters, but nobody could find the source, at least not until they were given a letter of apology fro the rafter massacre.

Mr Tenpenny's bushes looked rather beautiful with a new crimson colour scheme, the bullet filled body however did not.

Finally, a beautifull crimson dress was found alongside a black carnival mask, they had both been slice thoroughly and were completely ruined, the blood didn't have quite such an effect on the clothing.

 **Southern Fiore, Councillor meeting place**

Everyone was sitting hidden in a truck as Cad Bane drove up towards the building.

"Here we go."

As he said this, everyone ducked and made sure to be as "invisible" as possible as they arrived.

"Attention! This is a restricted zone! No parking is allowed without permission. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Bane merely parked and walked up towards the guards after the intercom had completed it's broadcast.

Two guards walked up to him.

"Put up your hands!"

He calmly looked up at them, and corrected his hat slightly.

"I've got business with the council, how about you fellas step aside?"

They replied with: "On your knees! Raise your hands, slowly."

As he complied and raised his hands he told them.

"Son, I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you."

The guard commander scoffed.

"Cuff him."

As the man behind him began moving towards Bane he was suddenly shot!

As more shots began hitting, the guards started taking cover.

"Where is it coming from?"

"I see the shooter, he's over the-argh!"

He couldn't finish his sentence as the sniper already had shot him.

During this calamity Bane ran towards the commander and managed to capture him in a chokehold, all the while the others hiding in the truck shot through it's wall and killed off the rest, while there was a lot of small arms fire the thing that stood out most was a green electric arrow that vaporized a guard.

Shortly after the guards were dead, Bane snapped the neck of the commander.

Any stragglers were picked off by Revenant until Bane waved it over.

So Revenant slid on down, fast, towards the group.

As Revenant arrived Bane motioned towards a pair of lookalikes.

"You two! Get these uniforms on and clear the entrance of bodies."

As they moved, a comm-link started calling.

One of the lookalikes picked it up and answered.

"Base to platform, what was that?"

He cleared his throat before sounding exactly like the guard from before.

"Some drunkards protesting against the council, we've dealt with them."

Seemingly satisfied with the answer the line went dead.

"Finish getting those uniforms on and clear this area now. Everybody else, follow me."

As they walked, Rey and Raina walked 3rd and 4th behind Bane, in front of them was a young man who looked rather intimidating.

His dull green eyes and crimson coloured hair were surprisingly a good combo, the ponytail looked rather fitting. His slightly muscular body would be impressive were it not for his abdominal muscles grabbing the attention, his pale skin was also something you'd expect from maybe something otherworldly but he is just a human with very pale skin. He was wearing a dark red jacket that was zipped all the way up, effectively covering the lower half of his face. It stopped just short of his waist, at least in front and the back. It continued down to his knees at the sides. By the way Raina was rubbing her hands in a creepy fashion, he was also shirtless. He was wearing a pair of black baggy pants that were tucked into a pair of combat boots. Finally his right hand had a leather glove on and there was a beautiful silvery bow with green linings on his back with no visible quiver on. Rey decided to warn him.

"Uh kiddo?"

He turned back towards Rey

"Might wanna keep your eyes open."

"…Why?"

Rey used his thumb to point behind him.

As the boy looked behind his new… Friend? He saw Raina having one of the most perverse faces he had ever seen, and to be honest, it scared him. A lot.

"Don't worry, I'll try to keep her in line. What's your name anyway?"

He was shook out of his fear-induced stupor and answered curtly.

"Sensō no kiseki."

"Aha, any codename?"

"Reddorimaindā"

"Alright Red, I'm Rey Steele "AKA" Hidden Shadow. Looking forward to working with ya."

"Likewise."

But their bonding stopped when they arrived at the corner of a hallway where Bane stopped them.

"Guard change happens. Now."

As he said this, several guards walked towards a pair of doors in front of them.

As if on cue, a small metal ball was given first to Raina who charged it a little, then to Rey who gave it to Sensō who gave his own little juice to it, before Bane grabbed it.

"Here we go."

And with that said he snuck towards the door before throwing in the little ball as the door closed. It rolled right in.

He fixed his hat and started walking, about three seconds after that the room exploded.

"Now, let's arrange a meeting."

As they walked past, a guard grabbed Revenant's leg.

"Help… Me."

Revenant merely raised its foot and brought it down upon the woman's skull.

"No. NO-"

Who knew heads went splosh?

As they entered they could hear and see several councillors discussing.

"We cannot allow this free mercenary deployment bill proceed."

"We're all in agreement then!"

Ban took out a pistol and fired it a few times in the air to garner attention.

"Morning councillors, you should all consider yourselves to be in my power. As long as everybody behaves this will quick and painless. Do nothing, and it will all be over soon."

While the other councillors looked scared and appalled one (who totally looked like an asshole) scoffed at the mercenary.

"I don't know who you think you are! But I, have no intention of listening to this kind of insolence."

And so he started walking away towards the exit.

Bane gave a small nod of understanding and let the councillor leave… Before he shot him square in the back.

This caused a small uproar of fear among the councillors who remained.

"Alright then, if you will all gather at the centre of this lovely atrium my co-workers and I will relieve you of any weapons or communication devices you may have.

While they were collecting any devices, Bane started planting a few devices left and right within the room. Soon all devices had been collected and the councillors were gathered in the middle.

"Now then, I need you all to sign this here release form for someone in prison. He will of course be appropriated by the proper guardians."

After a brief… "Discussion" amongst themselves. A man with black hair and an impressive beard walked up to Bane.

"…We will sign, but if I may ask… Who is the prisoner?"

If he could, Bane would have trollface'd

 **Maximum Security Prison**

Commander Nero was shocked.

No, shocked wouldn't cut it.

He was baffled.

Councillor Sheev had just called him. (Who was not at the meeting) And had told him that the other councillors had decided that they should free Alexander "The Butcher" Metrac from his life sentence and put him in a guild for community service. The problem was not many guilds would want a psycho killer in their midst. But the problem at hand was a bit more… Confounding.

Alexander was bawling as he was to be released, due to the puppy having just arrived and three guards were trying to pull him out of the prison into the transport vehicle.

"I DON'T WANNA LEAVE SIR FLOOFBUTT HE JUST GOT HERE!"

"Come on Alex, rules are rules."

"Please! Let me bring him! I promise to care for him!"

"That wouldn't be fair to the others, now would it?"

There was a silence before he reluctantly agreed.

"…Fine. You guys better take good care of him while I'm gone!"

The other prisoners confirmed this with a chorus of "yeah!" and "We got this!"

Nero could only shake his head at this whole situation as morons surrounded him.

Now to the more pressing matter, where was he supposed to send this man? There needed to be a faculty where he could be monitored, where they weren't afraid of killing and where he would be allowed to fight for Fiore. There needed to be someone with military training, where the hell would he find a guild with mil-

He gave a horrid grin

"Huehuehuehue"

And so he told the driver to head for northern Fiore.

 **Central Fiore, Councillor meeting place**

Revenant was finishing up the "Departing gifts" they had placed all over the room; it was just about to leave, before noticing something in the machines reflection. A figure was on the upper floors. The closest person was Sensō who was keeping watch, he noticed Revenant had stopped and kept staring at the machine; he then looked upwards and saw the person who seemed to be aiming at Revenant. Faster than anyone would have imagined, he brought out his bow pulled the string back and let loose an arrow that hit the assailant before he could even draw breath, he then fell into the mass of councillors, alive.

"Revenant, is everything ready?"

It nodded, and then started walking up to Sensō.

He merely stood there; waiting for something, ready to defend himself just in case.

He was then given a small knife; Revenant then gave a thankful nod and walked off.

Bane then pressed a button and all the machines created a laser web around the councillors and the assailant, who as it turns out was a mage from a legal guild.

"If you so much as breathe on one of these lasers the whole room will blow up. Councillors. Mage. I bid you all a most respectful farewell."

And with their mission completed, they all left the councillors.

At the truck, Raina had brought the corpse of the councillor who had been an asshole. Everyone was very uncomfortable, especially Sensō who sat one person's distance from her.

"She, she really gonna eat that?"

"Yup."

Raina turned towards Bane.

"Mr Cad Bane, sir. Why did we place bombs inside the building?"

He gave a small smile under his re-breather.

"It was to make sure that we would be given a free pass out of the area, and the best part is. The bombs were fake."

Raina nodded in understanding.

"Anyone wants a pie-"

"NO!"

Raina just sat down with a small pout.

 **Central Fiore, Club Omega**

"So, you did the mission without us?"

"Yep."

"Yet you couldn't have completed it without us?"

"Yep."

Both Cam and Buzz sat at a table in the club next to Zaeed.

"How?!" They both exclaimed.

He gave a smile.

"Our mission was to help and old accomplice of mine who had gotten into a goddamn one-man war against several of the douchier mercenary groups around the city. While I would have preferred to assault them and have an awesome last stand, this was a lot more fun."

Once more, both of them asked: "How?"

He gave a small laugh.

"Your idiotic discussion and fight caused a little bit of mayhem which caused a few of the patrons to fight. And that pulled in another few who happened to be a part of the mercenary group we were supposed to fight, soon after a few people started discussing things much like how you two did. Something stupid. This. Lead to more fighting. Until the mercs started shooting it out which in turn caused them to call for backup from their gangs.

This made it extra easy for me to wipe out their base camps, you guys literally managed to start a gang war that let me wipe out three gangs and save my friend. Without doing anything, I'm goddamn impressed by you guys. Now if you can do this without actually fighting I can't help but to imagine what you'll do if you actually fight someone. Let's get back and tell Sam about how goddamn well you did."

The two sat there wide-eyed before high fiving eachother and yelling at the top of their lungs.

"YEAH!"

 **Northern Fiore, Mountain Border**

"Excuse me, sir. Your carriage is currently in a dangerous training area. There are several lethal weapons being tested and several troopers in the area ready to destroy anything they see as a target."

"So?"

Kong was amazed, they literally told him that his carriage was in a danger zone and he didn't give a fuck.

"That means there are dangerous things happening and you should probably leave."

"PFFT nah. I'm rich."

Kong had to physically restrain her from literally blowing him apart with her magic.

Fireball however had a stupid plan.

"Don't drive over that cliff!"

"Fuck you I do what I want!"

And so their target drove off the cliff without a single thought.

Fireball stood proudly over his murder. Kong had passed out from the lack of logic and Deathstroke. He was still sitting with his scope up, unable to understand how the hell a rookie had managed to kill a target in a fucking near indestructible safety vehicle without a single use of magic or weaponry.

He decided to say fuck it and roll with it.

"Let's go, your rewards await at base."

"Yes sir."

 **Western Fiore, Samantha's Tacos**

Sentinel and Jammer were both sitting at the table, waiting for their fearless leader to awaken and tell them exactly what the hell their mission was! Seriously! They had been sitting there for several hours just eating tacos and waiting for their boss to eat his tacos.

He had just entered a food coma so our young heroes were just talking.

"So you are telling me, that if there is a 90% chance to hit it doesn't mean there is a 90% chance you'll hit?"

"Yup."

"How'd you figure?"

"XCOM."

"Ah I see."

Just then the building three blocks from theirs went up in flames from a massive explosion. It startled the two, awakened their leader and garnered the correct response.

"JESUS!"

"HOLY FUCK!"

"CHIMICHANGAS!"

They all sat there taking deep breaths and calming down, before Jammer decided to act.

"Why did that building explode?"

"Oh, that was our target."

Sentinel decided it was time for his oh so intelligent response.

"Wuh?"

"The target we were sent to destroy? UGH! It's like you guys didn't listen during my epic briefing story!"

"We weren't! You kept talking about Samantha's tacos and some guy named Cable who looked like a taco for an hour!"

"Yeah, then you dragged us here to get tacos, ate your fill and fell into a food coma for… TWO HOURS?! What the hell?!"

Deadpool put a hand to his chin and adopted an ultimately futile thinking pose.

"Huh, I guess they're right."

"Perhaps we should tell them that we rigged the bombs before we brought them here as to gain some form of respect?"

"Nah, let them dream of how awesome we are!"

"Either way, let's head on back to base, we're gonna get paid! And for being such good little boys and paying for the tacos I'm gonna tell him you did great!"

"But we didn-"

"Shh, Jammer! We paid for the meal fair and square. We don't want to give Mr. Pool guilty feelings for our generosity. Do we?"

Jammer's eyes widened and he quickly followed

"Y-Yes of course! Now let's go on home!"

As the two rooks walked on, Deadpool followed and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

"Ah, expendable characters grow up so fast… Yo author! Why the hell are these chapters so half-assed? Seriously, I coulda shat a better chapter! Why are they so short compared to the rest, huh?"

Okay enough out of him before I decide to stop writing this stuff, off to another place with less Wade

"Hey!"

 **Eastern Fiore, Secret location, Command room**

Krytus and Lucretzia stood behind Taskmaster in the command room. The facility had been infiltrated by a large amount of agents similar to the one who had been interrogated. And they were well equipped for an assault. Luckily enough they needed just one of them.

"The plan is simple, I'm going to interrogate the young girl for the code we failed to acquire. You two will eliminate all but the young man over there that seems to have a connection with the girl. I may need him later in case things do not work out. Am I clear?"

They both brought their right arms up and held them across their chests and gave a nod as a salute before uttering: "Yes sir."

As they walked off, Taskmaster was left to his own musings.

"Quite an interesting pair, twins yet different magic. I wonder what they will show me. Perhaps I can interest them in a place in my academy."

As they walked towards the breach zone with several guards rushing back and forth to secure the area, they decided to discuss strategies.

"Brother, how shall we deal with the threats?"

"I believe it would be most efficient for me to transport the non-kill target away from the area and allow us both to cut loose while our handler deals with the interrogation."

She nodded.

"I shall deal with the enemy, you focus on capturing the target. And if you are able make some kills on targets that may prove difficult for me to handle."

He turned to face his sibling with a serious expression.

"It will be done, sister."

As they entered the hangar, they saw the young girl unconscious and being carried by Taskmaster who was being covered by two guards as he was using his shield to block any oncoming bullets.

The target in question seemed to wield a sword and a gun that cut through about anything that was thrown his way, he even seemed to block several bullets with it alone and fired off a few good pot-shots at the guards. His reign of terror was short lived as Krytus charged.

"Come boy, we have plans for you."

The man seemed angered and charged Krytus.

Krytus managed to tackle him, and like that. They were gone.

 **Unknown location, Cell**

As the man came too, he saw a blackish room with dark purple energies around. His weapons had been removed, and he was chained with several dark purple chains.

"The void will keep you safe, while I take care of your friends. Your little girlfriend is waiting on the other side."

The man was left in shock as Krytus left him there. Alone.

 **Eastern Fiore, Secret location, Storage bay**

As Krytus left, Lucretzia motioned all guards to get behind her. As they moved, she stood still, facing an army of agents, all armoured, armed or ready to kill. Some had magic going ready while others had weapons drawn and ready to fire. What seemed most curious was the fact that Lucretzia had her eyes closed. The enemy seemed not to care and began charging her immediately.

Then her eyes suddenly opened.

"Come forth, Spirit of the Huntress. Aran!"

And with that said, a magic shine appeared and blinded her enemies, and the sound of a bell accompanied the glow. As the light died down, in place stood a tall warrior clad in orange armor. Wearing a crimson helm with a small hole that showed her determined green eyes. In her right arm was a strange looking crossbow.

"Time to end this."

Almost immediately she began firing arrows that hit and killed the agents nearly instantly, sometimes her arrows would switch colour and would either explode, freeze them or even punch a hole straight through them. Meanwhile Lucretzia had discarded her cloak and showed a navy blue armor that had several areas covered in reinforced steel that made the colour scheme that much more intimidating. Soon, a helm materialized, it looked much like a knights helm but instead of the classic design there appeared to be a thick visor covering and protecting her face. As she began fighting, her weapons emerged, a pair of claws extended from her gauntlets, slicing left and right through the opposition like a certain individual with healing factor. However she moved with a more fluid grace rather than the ferocity of a wild animal. She also seemed to use small daggers or knives that one would see from an experienced hunter, she seemed to aim for vital areas that impaired her targets for the kills. Several of the individuals that had rifles often found themselves impaled by a blue blade of energy that appeared out of thin air and sometimes the bullets they fired came from behind and killed them.

But it seemed that no matter how many were slain there were many left.

Once more Lucretzia called out:

"Come forth, Spirit of the General. Kozu!"

And much like the first time there was a light and a chime, but this time there stood a massive warrior clad in red oriental armor. If the size was not intimidating enough, he also had four arms, each carrying a large and wicked looking butterfly sword. Speaking of his size, the beast of a man might even tower Samuel without his helmet. His face showed only the upper part, which showcased his emerald glowing eyes and freakishly pale skin with red tattoos. A mask that looked like a monstrous smile covered his mouth and nose. Worst part was he laughed at the opposition below him.

 **Ha Ha Ha**

What followed was a brutal slaughter with arrows, claws and massive swords. Short to say the guards were happy they stayed behind their allies. Once more Lucretzia appeared to change, she fought with a lot more ferocity and fury than before, with a lot more rage full screaming and grunting than before. Soon they stood next to Taskmaster as the young man whom they captured was inputting the code to the box. As soon as he did though, the girl threw a blade she had concealed towards him and he prepared to impale Taskmaster. Unfortunately, he forgot about the young Voidmancer in the room. As he struck forward, the blade found it's way into his own throat through a small purple portal. And before the girl could react, she found herself out of breath, and blood… and skull as Lucretzia had ripped her head off with her claws.

"Your work was most appreciated. I will make sure you get credit for your actions today. Head on back to Samuel, I need to crack this code."

They nodded and stepped into a large purple portal that appeared next to them out of thin air.

"Void magic, crude and effective."

As he said this he grabbed the code inside the box and walked towards a terminal.

 **Undisclosed Location, Somewhere in Fiore**

A pair of crimson eyes was locked on a screen, detailing a blueprint of sorts for what seemed to be a robotic skeleton that looked nearly identical to a human. There was loud clanking in the background, as if a massive amount of metal was marching, perfectly synchronized.

Suddenly a pair of white eyes and "teeth" appeared in the darkness and looked to the red pair.

"Mistress, everything is proceeding as planned." He droned in a monotone, vibrating voice.

The figure, now christened "Mistress" for the sake of convenience seemed to not even acknowledge the news.

"We have successfully produced ten new garrisons ready for use. The experimental troops are being constructed and your bodyguard units are now ready to be deployed. Is it time to strike yet?"

This time, Mistress looked towards the "man" in question.

"No, we require a larger number of troops if we are to assault. We will need to construct more B1s, and develop B2s, Have my IG-88s begin operation "Invisible Hand" and secure landmass for future factories. Currently numbers are our only forte and to rely on that would be foolish. We shall wait until we have more strength."

The "man" nodded.

"Roger, Roger."

 **A/N:** Olé! Another chapter done! This one is the biggest I have made yet! And to be honest, I'm kinda proud of it. So far I haven't gotten any reviews about changing anything directly so I'm going to assume either you do not care or I am doing a great job… Definitely the second one! Now we see a pair of new characters from Elvendarkness, thank you for sending them in! I hope I portrayed them all right. Either way: Review, Follow Favourite. Whatever ya wanna do. I look forward to more characters and reviews in the future!

Sensō no kiseki - Elvendarkness

Ancheindo - Elvendarkness


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6: "Familiar Feeling"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"Impossible…"

"What is your name?"

"Ancheindo"

"Reddorimaindā"

"Impressive skills"

"We have plans for you, boy."

"We shall wait until we have more strength.

 **A/N:** I screwed up a little, last chapter was supposed to be chapter five but it says four and I can't seem to fix it. Sorry for the interruption. Back to the story!

 **Northern Fiore, Hell's Guard**

Things had gotten…Weird at the guild. After a new member appeared Samuel had brought out drinks for everyone present. Now he was drunk and was singing alongside the girl. How they both knew the lyrics… I will never know.

" **This wench from Ardolis once got drunk and told us a life of crime don't pay!"**

" **But killing carousing stealing and roughhousing fills coffers every day! HEY!"**

Several guards had joined in halfway through; surprisingly enough their voices fit right in.

Jack was trying (and failing) to contain his laughter. He had always been there when Samuel was making an ass of himself. Jacob was on the floor and was struggling to breathe from laughing so hard. What was even funnier was that somehow Samuel had dressed up as a pirate captain, epic cloak, peg leg, hat and everything. The girl looked like a first mate with an orange tank top, a pair of baggy brown pants and her regular boots. She also had a fake hook hand that looked very real.

It should be noted that all was worn on their clothes.

Jack decided to try and converse with Jacob.

"He always does this, when he gets pissed he tries to calm himself down by getting piss drunk. Surprisingly it always works and he's always cheery during his buzz. Last time he tried to teach four younglings "Twistitsu" and he dressed up as an elderly Chinese man and had a glorious moustache and beard combo, and a straw hat."

Jacob had just managed to stop laughing before hearing the story… Then he laughed even harder!

"HAHAHA! Y-You gotta be shittin' me! How'd it go?"

Jack though back to the event.

"Well, they ended up fighting a giant snake, beat a dragon/wyrm/evil spirit thing, an army of metal and a master of gold and survived an elemental tournament and a war against half-snakes."

"By spinning?"

"By spinning."

"…HAHAHA"

And so Jacob burst into laughter once more, as he truly could not believe what he just heard from Jack. Their little reverie was interrupted when a purplish portal opened and two individuals stepped through. Jacob was laughing too hard to notice; yet Jack managed to recognize them fairly quickly.

"Ah, the Zemerik twins. I assume your mission was successful?"

They nodded. Krytus decided to report.

"The mission was completed precisely according to specifications. We followed instructions and completed all objectives. Our handler will give you the full report as soon as he has completed extracting information from the item we acquired."

Jack nodded and smiled slightly.

"Well done you two, but try to speak a little less formally than you do, it's not necessary to speak so, how shall we say, diligently among friends."

Krytus nodded.

"Yes sir, I sh- I'm gonna think about it."

Jack nodded, and then he turned towards Lucretzia who seemed to be itching to ask a question.

"Yes, Lulu?"

She looked at him, extremely confused.

Jack slapped his face with his palm; he forgot they never had any nicknames.

"Lucretzia, what is your question?"

She nodded and then pointed towards the on going party.

"Why is our supreme commanding officer dressed as a pirate and dancing alongside a woman who appears to be new to the guild as well?"

As Jack turned towards Samuel and the others, they started singing a new song.

" **Me hearties sing chan-ties, of girls in loose pant-ies, who lin-ger by the shore!"**

As they jumped off the table they were standing on they continued with the rest of the lads.

" **For six pence I love her, then ditch that land lubber. A Pi-rate ever more!"**

They burst into laughter while flinging around a pair of flagons they were drinking out of.

Suddenly Samuel had a serious look as he exclaimed:

"Aye, what be that foul stench?"

One of his drunken compatriots decided to chip in.

"Aye cap'n that booze is starting mutiny in me gut."

He narrowed his eyes.

"No, there be a yet more foul stench lingering, a thing I ain't smelled in near 6 moons!"

Ancheindo seemed to realise something with a smile

"Ah, fresh trousers?"

He seemed to realise what she said and looked towards Jack and the others in a way that would only be explainable by comparing it to that guy from "The Office".

But before any more TV-tropes could be exploited. The doors burst open when the rest of the rookies came back.

"Hey pops, you shoulda seen the mission we got a WHOAH!"

Rey was interrupted as he was forced to dodge a flagon being swung by the man in question.

"Arr! Me wee boyo has returned from plunder! How's the loot?"

Rey blinked a few times before coming up with the appropriate response.

"Wat?"

Just then Sensō walked into the room and garnered Samuel's attention.

"Arr! Ya found a right pretty lass plundering m'boy!"

Sensō was shocked, not only had his superior officer just approached him personally… He also mistook him for a girl.

"Sir, I'm a man."

"HA! Not with those clothes lassie!"

"But sir I!"

"'Nuff talk, who else is he-ARGH!"

He was interrupted by a figure charging and hugging him in a choking hold.

"DAD I'M HOME!"

"GAH! ME BREATHING HOLE!"

While Raina was choking Cap'n Sam, Sensō and Rey decided to get answers… AKA ask Jack.

Rey went first,

"What."

"He's drunk."

"Oh."

Sensō decided to ask something that had bothered him for a little while.

"Why'd he think I was a girl?"

Jack pushed up his glasses so they did the shining thing like in many anime.

"You are a very pretty man with nice clothes and a lithe form. You can be easily mistaken for a fairly attractive lady."

Sensō didn't know what to feel. On one hand he had just been confirmed to have the appearance of a girl. On the other he had been called pretty by and incredibly intelligent man so… Yay?

"Dad! I brought dinner!"

At this announcement everyone visibly paled.

Fireball and Kong ran back out into the snow.

Jammer and Sentinel decided to hide in the sickbay, under the examination table.

Rey ran towards his room with Sensō following him.

"What are you following me for?"

"You're the only guy I know, also you run faster!"

"Fuck off dude, fuck right off!"

And so they kept running towards safety.

Ancheindo and Sam seemed to sober right up and Samuel decided to give her a tip.

"Run towards Rey's room, can't miss it, large blades above the door. Jump in as soon as you can, and don't look back."

She stared in shock at Samuel, he looked so desperate and worried, several guards began to arm themselves, but that was coincidental to the new arrival soon coming.

She then gave a brisk nod and ran towards the safety of Rey's room.

Samuel then turned towards Jack and Jacob… Who had decided to flee the scene evident by their dust lookalikes holding a pose of running away.

Samuel's right eye began to twitch.

"You sons of a-!"

"Dad? What's with everyone arming themselves?"

This caused Samuel to look away from where his companions had previously been and look around, only to find all troops armed and ready to fire at the door. He then realized that he had forgotten about the prison transport Commander Neronicus had ordered ("Nero you fuckface!") And so, without further ado, he managed to switch back into his combat armor from his pirate costume, wearing his terrifying helm he walked alongside Raina who still had her headphones on.

"Raina we are going to be "appropriating", a certain individual with a bloody history. Your uncle Nero sent him over and so we need to make sure to be ready for anything."

"Yes, Sir!"

While her enthusiasm was admirable, there was still a matter at hand.

"Raina, why did you bring the body?"

True to his observation Raina was indeed carrying the body she wished to consume. On her back like a backpack… That bled… And moved slightly from side to side as she carried it.

"Well I couldn't just leave it! You always told us "Never waste a resource!"

And as she said this, her face somehow morphed into that of Samuel's, he was only slightly worried.

Samuel looked at her and remembered.

 **Fiore. Several years earlier. Kaznan Jungle**

The Kaznan jungle, lovely vacations spot for the family. As long as you don't mind flesh-eating diseases, shrieking nocturnal predators and other horrid sights that'd haunt you to future days. But I digress; in this little patch of heaven we find a young man armed with a combat knife, walking through the foliage wearing what seemed to be a black under suit.

He was skulking through the jungle, keeping his eyes open. His face covered by a strange gasmask like helm that had a pair of orange visor like "eyes". As he walked into a clearing he saw something quite interesting. A small girl with lightish brown hair and hazel coloured eyes, her face was in quite an intense frown as she had several scrapes and cuts along her body. She was wearing something similar to the man who was observing her, save for a helmet. She was fighting what appeared to be a large wolf, however on closer inspection it seemed to have a chitinous exoskeleton, coloured entirely black and it had a rather disgusting maw with a pair of large terrifying fangs oozing with slime. It gave a high-pitched shriek towards it's opponent. A vanx.

She merely started to grin.

"Come on! You're gonna be my ticket to success! And right now, I'm pretty damn hungry!"

The beast merely roared and charged against the girl.

The girl, surprisingly, did the same.

As they collided, the girl gripped the beast's throat and managed to swing herself onto it's back before grabbing the fur it had in order to get a good grip as the thing thrashed and jumped in order to get it's prey off. The girl however had other plans as she brought down the blade she was carrying into its throat several times. Stabbing it over.

And over.

And over.

And over.

Again. And. Again.

Until it finally stopped moving and made a gurgling noise signalling that it had successfully choked on it's own blood and her blade.

She breathed heavily before she started laughing rather maniacally, louder, and more.

"I DID IT!"

She shouted with glee, before she started gutting the beast and prepared to move it.

The man who observed her had his knife poised to attack and kill the beast in a fell swoop; he gave a small nod, sheathed his knife and stealthily moved out.

As he continues into the jungle, he saw an Acklay. A mantis like creature with six legs capable of piercing and cutting through metal as easily as flesh, it was coloured green, had a rather long head, and several razor-sharp teeth that made it's mouth look incredibly intimidating. This one was a mere child, less than one and a half meter in height. As the man prepared to kill the beast, he noticed it.

He then gave a small and silent laugh.

"Ha ha ha, clever boy."

There was a small piece of meat hanging from a tree ahead, the Acklay went for the easy meal, it didn't even notice the black haired boy with miscoloured eyes who was standing right next to the tree, nearly perfectly camouflaged. The beast had its head impaled and never saw it coming. The man had seen enough and returned towards the camp. As he sat there and cleaned his weapons, the girl was struggling to carry her prey, at almost the same time the boy came dragging the corpse of his latest kill. They then dropped their prey and saluted the man. He then began slowly removing his helmet as he spoke to them.

"Nature is full of predators and prey, why we went here was to show you that even what we consider prey can be a lethal predator. You have both performed admirably and earned yourselves the title of "Hunters."

The boy and girl began cheering and hugged eachother.

"Now for the next part."

As he said this he threw two forks onto the corpses.

"Eat them."

The two children looked at him with shocked stares.

"You will not always be so lucky as you were today and find such bountiful prey. Never waste a resource."

The youngsters gulped.

"Pass the salt, Raina?"

"Coming right up, Rey."

And so Raina and Rey were taught the harsh lessons of nature, "Eat and avoid getting eaten!"

Surprisingly, Vanx was pretty damn tasty. Acklay. Not so much.

 **Hell's Guard, Entrance area**

Samuel then sighed.

"I know, but I meant when you are out hunting or in combat."

"But dad I am always hunting FOR combat."

Samuel could just shake his head, and give a small smile.

"Just… Not everyone is very accepting to… Your unique eating habits."

"Oh… Why?"

"It's morally wrong and disrespectful to the dead."

"But, they're dead it's not like they care."

"A- Fuck it let's just get this over with and celebrate. I will cook."

"But I thought-"

"No, not since your patented "Liversagna".

"Oh come on! You use a guys liver once!"

"Thrice."

"Thrice!"

But the father daughter conversation was interrupted as they reached their destination.

There was over a dozen guards all armed with weapons ready to kill anything that exited the transport.

"Raina, ready up"

She nodded and clicked the side of her headphones, they soon transformed into her classic skull like helmet with the orange like "eyes"

Samuel put on his own helmet and stood with his arms crossed, he looked to Raina and saw she had dropped the body in favour of holding both her weapons.

"Open it."

Two of the guards walked up to the transport and opened the door; as soon as it opened they jumped back into position and trained their rifles at the doors.

After a few seconds they herd a yawning from the inside, and soon a man covered in chains and cuffs and whatnot walked out, he seemed tired and had a mask that covered the entirety of his lower face and had a small hole with a pair of bars where his mouth is, preventing anything.

He looked on towards Samuel and Raina, and decided to say something.

"Sup?"

This did nothing to lessen the tension in the air.

"Alexander Metrac, AKA "Alex the Red" AKA "The Butcher", do you understand why you're here?"

He seemed to think it over.

"You bought me as a pet?"

This time a few cocking guns were his reward.

"You are here to serve out your sentence, you will work alongside the members of this guild and you will assist us in completing our objectives."

Alex seemed to process this.

"And in return?"

This time Samuel stepped forward and signed with his hand for his men to lower their weapons.

"You will be treated fairly, rewarded, you will be able to trust us for protection as we will come to trust you. And when you have finally served your sentence. You will be given your freedom."

This garnered a rather surprising reaction from Alex, his eyes widened and he seemed to think over the words in order to make sure he was not being fooled. He put everything in one card.

"Do you promise?"

Everyone in the room looked at Samuel, who had gone completely silent.

Soon he brought his hands to his head and removed the helmet. Looked Alex in the eye and told him:

"I promise on my honour as a warrior that your freedom will be given when your service has ended."

He stared into Samuel's eyes, looking for any hint of deception. He found none.

Alex then started grinning widely.

"Alright boss, lemme out and we'll shake hands! I'm itching to get to work."

While everyone seemed quite worried or uneasy, Samuel merely nodded and ripped off all chains and clamps in one fell swoop. This caused several eyebrows to "take flight".

"Welcome to Hell's Guard, "Butcher".

"I won't let you down boss!"

He gave a crisp salute, before suddenly starting to sniff the air vigorously.

"Hey, uh." He sniffed a little more.

"Something is smelling pretty good!"

Raina, who'd removed her helmet when Alexander was accepted, was carrying her "lunch". Before she noticed Alexander staring.

Her eyes narrowed and her headphones became a helm as she took a defensive pose with her blades.

"Don't you dare."

Alex smiled a predatory grin.

"Unfortunately, I do!"

And with that said he leapt forth his hands turning into massive claws that looked like blades, covered in wire like, thick sinews that looked too large to harm. The two clashed, blades vs blades as they attempted to push the other away. Their stalemate was broken as both jumped back and started hacking and slashing at eachother. Their every move managed to match the other's as they fought. Soon, they both eyed their prize and jumped towards it.

They got closer.

Closer.

Closer…

Until. It suddenly, caught fire. And was turned into ashes.

Both of them were shocked. They froze mid air, and Raina's helmet once more disengaged.

"Phew, finally. Hated that thing. Stunk like hell! So, who's the new guy?"

Raina soon broke the awkward silence with Alexander and her crying comical tear streams. Hugging eachother over the loss of their "meal" while attempting (and failing) to console eachother.

Everyone just stood there in silence. Unable to, process. The deathmatch/grieving. Currently taking place. Jacob managed to break the silence.

"Did I miss something?"

 **Hell's Guard, Dining hall.**

Things were finally taking form. Everyone had managed to return, the last to arrive were Akiba and Dark Horse. They had gotten caught up in a minor robbery; it was quite amusing to look at the faces of the robber when their victims mugged them.

Rey had learned more about his new friends Ancheindo and Sensō, they knew eachother from before, and they could play the cello. And when I mean play, I mean PLAY! They performed Hysteria and The Trooper Overture (by 2CELLOS) with relative ease and without any notes. Needless to say Rey was blown away by their skills, he however wasn't one to be outdone and performed something himself. It was an acoustic cover of Face Down (by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) and it was quite well done, while it wasn't perfect it was quite impressive that he could both play and sing at the same time.

Raina and Alexander were wearing black clothes "in memoriam" of their lost meal, and yes she does this often. Zhuue had come back from her mission fairly early and had been sneaking through the vents for some, "intriguing information." However it also served to show off Ancheindo's ability of prediction as she predicted something would fall from the vent. She was right, however she didn't predict a person would fall right after the grate. Rey dodged it, but not her.

Jack was sitting at the large table in the centre along with all rookies; he was smiling as he saw all their joyful expressions (and Brad) he was happy they had all returned alive and well and as an added bonus, they were all successful! Jacob who sat right next to him however, was frowning, as he was really hungry.

"Sam, why are we just sittin' pretty when we could be eating? I'm pretty damn starved."

Samuel just sat at his position on the edge of the table in a throne like chair. Quietly waiting for something.

"While Jacob may lack tact."

"Hey!"

"He has spoken a thought many of us have, why are we waiting?"

Jack inquired.

Around them several voices chimed in with agreements and similar questions.

Samuel remained quiet while looking around.

Soon he spoke.

"We are waiting for a guest, they should be arriving at any moment."

Several "oh" sounds could be heard from around the table.

Rey then stated the obvious.

"Sure does explain that menacing extra chair."

There were murmurs of agreements considering the intimidating chair next to Samuel.

But Brad decided to inquire more.

"Sir, all of us are here, all your lieutenants are here and the special case."

"Hey!"

Alexander chimed in

"Whom could we possibly wait for?"

Suddenly there was a small "tink" like noise.

"This one."

And suddenly Revenant dropped from the ceiling, along with a part of it and charged at Samuel while everyone was recovering from the shock, and flash bang.

Much like nothing, Samuel merely grabbed both of Revenant's arms as it tried to cleave him in two and held it above himself.

"Really, three years and you attempt a failed assassination attempt. Really?"

Revenant was struggling to free itself from Samuel's "Iron grip" (he he) but to no avail.

With a grin that could only be described as satanic, Samuel then said.

"Such actions deserve…PUNISHMENT."

At that word, Revenant seemed to panic and increased its efforts to escape tenfold.

Samuel then ripped off its arm armor and removed his gauntlet.

With it's scrambled voice it pleaded:

"No! NO! Anything but that! Anything bu-AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Samuel was tickling Revenant.

Everyone was stunned as the scrambled voice was laughing.

Soon enough, the voice began to sound normal and higher pitched, almost as if Oh my god it's a chick!

Revenant was laughing until Samuel said something.

"Say it."

"Uncle! UNCLE!"

And so the "torture" stopped.

"Honestly, assassination before dinner? Didn't you learn how to be civilized?"

There was a small giggling coming from the helmeted face.

"C'mon bro. Can't you have some fun once in a while?"

" **BRO?!"**

Was the shocked outburst of everyone in the room.

"Please remove your helmet. We are about to have dinner."

She sighed.

"Fine."

As soon as Samuel released her from his grip she then removed her helmet and showed her face. Quite fascinating.

She looked much like her brother, save for a bit more tanned skin, softer features and far longer and more beautiful hair that seemed to reach her lower back. Her eyes held the same burning determination of her brother, only riddled with far more playfulness and youth.

Everyone was gaping at the, somewhat, "gender bent" version of their leader take her place.

Jacob broke the silence.

"Well hell-o beautiful! What's your name and where ya been all my life?"

She turned towards him and smiled.

"My name is Ilyana Steel, Codename: Revenant. As for where I've been, brutally killing dark guild members, doing secret military ops and maintaining my equipment."

Everyone absorbed the information, as Jacob turned to Jack.

"Jack, slap me in the face."

"What, why?"

"I wanna make sure I ain't dreaming!"

He slapped him. Hard.

"You aren't."

"Great!"

And soon everyone got to know Ilyana Steel; she took a liking to them immediately, as they did her. She gave thanks to young Sensō once more for his assistance during the op. And started hugging (crushing) her nephew and niece for their great work. While also. Giving them gifts.

To Raina, she gave an MP3 to go with her headphones.

It never occurred to her that music should be used with headphones.

To Rey she gave a specialized elec-dagger, powerful enough to knock out a person in a single strike.

"YO SAM! When's dinner ready? Your wife's getting antsy!"

Jacob turned to her with an indignant look.

"I'm not his wife!"

"Pfft! Not with that attitude you're not."

And so the table descended into laughter at Jacob's expense, until they heard grunting from the kitchen.

"Uh, Sa-"

Suddenly Samuel burst from the door carrying two enormous pots while giving a grand war cry. The damn things were the size of Minivans! It should be noted he also wore an apron with small hearts here and there alongside a chef hat.

As he set them on the table, he then sat down and gave a sigh of relief.

Everyone stared in shock at the giant pots.

"Uh, pops. What's in there?"

Samuel gave a smile.

"Family recipe! "Grandma's Spaghetti!"

And like that, the pots were opened and an enormous amount of spaghetti and Bolognese was visible. Enough to feed them for days!

Surprisingly, it was Brad who broke the silence.

"Holy fuck that is a lot of pasta."

Everyone agreed.

Sensō then spoke.

"Sir, if I may ask. WHAT THE HELL?! DID YOUR GRANDMOTHER OWN A PASTA FACTORY?!

Samuel looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Hmm, Well."

 **Many Years ago. Fiore.**

A small boy was hiding between a pair of stones. He was quite well hidden, he seemed to have curled together and was hugging his knees in order to appear smaller and blend in with the surrounding area. He couldn't have been more than seven years old. Everything was quiet before suddenly!

" **FOUND YOU"**

A mighty voice called out!

And so the ground began to quake violently, as the pair large stones were lifted into the air and flung far away.

In their wake there was a colossal shadow standing above, reaching for the boy.

There was a scream.

Then silence…

Followed by a bout of childish laughter.

"I got you now kiddo!"

"Ha ha ah! Granny! P-Please stop I-I can't breathe!"

"Should have thought about that before you wanted to play hide and seek, with tickler's loss!"

The giant was, as it turns out, a female and was tickling the child whom she had scooped up with her hands.

"Come now Sam, your grandfather has been worried sick."

"Aw, come on. Five more minutes?"

She laughed slightly.

"That's five more minutes your grandfather will ravage every monster den in the forest."

"Oh… What does "Revage" mean?"

"It means he will break a lot of things."

"Like you, granny?"

The giant seemed to freeze, before giving a tired sigh.

"Yes Sam, just like granny."

"Wow, I wanna "Revage" things like you granny!"

This caused her to smile.

"Not until you're older kiddo."

 **Meanwhile, Other side of the forest**

"RAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

A giant white armoured knight (giant by normal people standards) was charging through the entire forest, killing and destroying everyone and everything in his path. Simultaneously shouting:

"WHERE'S MY GRANDSON?!"

He kept charging until he heard a faint buzzing coming from within his armour, along with a small tune familiar to that of three spies. Each wearing a suit with a primary colour. He stopped his charge and answered his lacrima.

"I found him, he was hiding by the boulders."

"Oh, I'll be home soon. Broke a few uh… Miles of forest work."

He swore he heard her shaking her head, while she laughed.

"You are too caring sometimes. Don't worry, it's dinner time."

"Oki doki."

 **Large cottage attached to small cottage, Forest**

Sitting at a rather huge table, was the previous giant woman. Her beautiful blonde long hair and blue eyes gave her a very "Valkyrie" like appearance; she was wearing what seemed to be old-fashioned barbarian type armour that showed off her well-trained midriff and toned legs. On the table was a smaller table where the young boy and armoured knight were sitting. Next to their table was a gargantuan pot of pasta and another with Bolognese.

"Sam, you gotta tell us where you're hiding. You're gonna give your old granddad a heart attack one of these days."

While he laughed at his own joke. He saw Samuel had a face with comically large eyes full of tears and quivering lips while staring at him.

"I D-DON'T WANT GRANDPA TO DIE!"

And so Sam started weeping while throwing himself at his grandpa and hugging him. As if he thought that when he let go his grandpa would die or disappear.

His grandfather looked alarmed and stared at his wife, who was just chuckling at his misfortune.

"Um, there, there. Sam. Your grandfather is strong and will be with you a long time."

Sam sniffed.

"R-Really?"

"Of course! Who else would pay for your grandmother when she ruins thi-"

A large fist crashing down at him silenced him.

"What he meant was: Who would keep granny company when you are not around?"

There was a muffled yes from under her fist.

This seemed to cheer the boy up.

"Okay! Granny, why do you eat so much?"

"Uh well it is because I-"

"Is it because you're fat?"

She froze, and her world seemed to shatter before she retreated to a corner of the house. And she started mumbling in a depressed tone.

"I'm not fat, just very tall. I eat enough food for my body. I don't eat too much. Maybe a desert now and then but that shouldn't matter. Maybe I should train more, I have been slacking a little."

While she was mumbling, Sam's grandfather sweat dropped and patted his grandson on his back.

"He he, Sam. Don't call people fat, it is very rude."

He looked shocked.

"Was I rude to granny?!"

He asked in a panicked voice.

"Don't worry, she knows you didn't mean it. But remember, don't be so blunt about your thoughts."

"Ok."

His grandfather then placed his hand on Sam's head, and ruffled the hair.

"Alright you little scamp, let's eat. It's grandma's spaghetti!"

"Yay!"

Needless to say, Sam was a little bit of a moron.

 **Hell's Guard, Dinner hall. Present Day.**

"My grandmother knew how to cook."

This seemed to tide over a few of the questions.

"Was she tall?"

Samuel seemed to think it over before answering.

"Yes"

"Well that explains it."

He nodded and turned towards everyone, with a wide smile.

"Let the celebrations BEGIN!"

And so everyone cheered and started to enjoy him or herself. A lot of things are happening at once so we're going to go a little left and right here.

"So, you see the future when playing an instrument?"

"Yes"

"And when you're circling the rim of a glass?"

"Indeed."

"Haha! How does that even work?"

" Don't know, but it sure does come in handy."

"Yeah, now we can know that Rey won't get a girl!"

And so Sensō and Ancheindo laughed at Rey's misfortune, before he too joined in.

"I'd never seen him run so fast. I'm fighting this guy with a hook sword, everything is burning and everyone is shooting everyone. So suddenly Samuel just sprints past while grabbing me and shouting and I quote: "Fuck, Fuck! FUUUCK!"

The table burst into laughter once more as they laughed at their fearless leader.

"Ilyana, I got a better one!"

"Do tell Jack."'

"Heard about gravity?"

"Yeah?"

"Samuel sure hadn't! We were doing a mission. Hunting a guy who hid in the mountains. Bottom line, he was an air mage. Sam jumps to grab him. They fall to the fucking bottom and Sam is stuck in full body cast for three weeks!"

Several chairs had fallen backwards from laughter; Ilyana was smashing her fist into the table and just kept laughing.

"So there I was, outnumbered and outgunned. Samuel at my back and assholes in front."

The crowd of onlookers were intrigued by the story. While Johnny was listening to the story with his eyes full of amazement, along with his shades. Brad was taking notes of the different killing styles, weapon tactics and names for takedowns. Hey, what better way than to learn from a pro?

"So what does the fucking maniac do? He picks up two machine guns, puts me on his shoulders and just fires everything! He kept pulling the trigger until nothing was left of both his ammo and enemies! I kept hitting the fuckas who didn't get wasted by his barrage. Was a damn good day for a "Gunnado". Everyone clapped while Brad wrote "Gunnado" while circling it a few times. Before nodding to himself.

Suddenly there was a noise that caught everyone's attention.

Piano music.

And not just any old kind of music. But the one played by a goddamn professional.

As everyone turned towards the stage, they saw Zhuue standing alongside Lucretzia. Suddenly, Zhuue began to hum the first part of Sins of the Father, with Lucretzia starting to softly sing. Everyone was so distracted by the beautiful singing that they hadn't noticed Raina making her way to the stage and taking the mike. They noticed when she sang in a much less gentle and "angelic" tone. With far more force and determination.

" **Words that kill! Would you speak them to me? With your breath so still, it makes me believe"**

She then looked out at her audience with a surprisingly serious look.

" **In the father's Sins! Let me suffer now, and never die. I'M ALIVE!"**

With that power verse, the song slowed down, until all three girls prepared for the finale. They each sang a verse before all joining in for the final verse.

The order was Zhuue, Lucretzia and finally Raina.

 **Z: "Pride, feeds their blackened hearts, and their thirst must be quenched to fuel hypocrisy"**

 **L: "Cleansing flames, is the only way to repent. Renounce what made you."**

 **R: "Words that kill, would you speak them to me? With your breath so still, it makes me believe."**

All three joined together.

" **The sins never die! Can't wash this blood off our hands."**

" **Let the world fear us all! It's just means to an end!"**

" **Our salvation lies! In the father's sins. Beyond the truth!"**

" **Let me suffer now!"**

The singing captivated almost everyone. Brad however wondered about the music, so as he looked towards Krytus. He saw something pretty interesting. His arms were inside a pair of purple portals, and all around the instruments were purple portals with his arms sticking out and playing the instruments.

" **In my heart I just know that there's no way to light up the dark, in his eyes."**

And amidst the flurry of voices, a small one seemed to wail similarly to the beginning, but before anyone could realize, being captivated by the song. Samuel had joined the girls on stage and stood at the centre with a cape billowing as they gave the final tone. A combined **"WHOAH HO!"** Samuel looked incredibly intimidating and inspiring with the song's final part and his position fitting so well together.

As the song ended, everyone applauded the young girls, whistles and banging on the tables, people screaming for encores. Samuel silenced everyone with a warm smile while raising his hand as a gesture of ceasing.

"I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves during these festivities. For tomorrow we all return to work."

There was a collective groaning from most of the patrons.

"However, great deeds MUST be celebrated. So when you're out in the field or back at base. Do your best and parties like these will be held in YOUR honour!"

And so Samuel managed to rile up the audience with his promises of parties and good times for their deeds.

Soon enough, everyone was off to bed. Going to either their respective rooms or the shared barracks. As everyone made their way to bed, Samuel called out to them through the intercom.

"Good night little mercs."

Everyone replied to him in kind.

"Night boss."

As they started to sleep, they heard another announcement.

"Good night monster that eats disobedient little mercs."

Nobody knew that Alexander had snuck out with an intercom per Samuel's instructions; he then took a deep breath and roared in a terrifying and beastlike way that scared everyone into a shiver. Several mercs had decided to… Share bunks for training purposes. Definitely not because they were terrified of a monster for sure.

Meanwhile, Alexander snuck into his room through a window and was silently snickering about this. Maybe these guys wouldn't be so bad.

At the same time, Samuel was getting ready for bed; he removed all weapons, took off his armor and brushed his teeth. Before going to bed. As he entered it, something was off. As he removed the duvet, he found his sister, lying comfortably in his bed.

He merely raised an eyebrow.

She yawned.

"No bed. Here comfy. Tell story. Big bro."

He just gave a small sigh and sat up straight, before grabbing a book while his little sister, leaned onto his shoulder half-asleep and half-listening.

"Let me tell you the story of: "Caped Baldy, the Strongest Hero".

And so he too began drifting off as he told his sister of the hero's exploits.

However, neither of them knew. That their calm and peaceful times, were about to come to an end.

A/N: Another one! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Finally we get some insight into the old fighting man and his past. Also some music that I do not own, it's from Metal Gear Solid V. Also, the Shanties are from Ratchet and Clank Future, I don't own them either. Not much else to say other than: I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible and Review follow and favourite if you want!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: "Heavy and Metal"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"I'm bored!"

"I will gauge your skills Steele"

"Sandover is under attack!"

"Commander Neronicus."

"Commander XZER0 has failed."

"As long as we breathe, you will not succeed."

"FIRE!"

"Poor choice of words."

 **Magic council headquarters, Meeting room.**

The councillors have dealt with a lot of things, demons, dragons, extremely powerful dark guilds and even invasions by other nations. They did however not want to deal with Samuel Steele when he is angry, very, very angry.

"Samuel, we know you are… Upset at this development."

Across from a massive table sat Samuel with his arms crossed.

"Upset? Oh no I'm not upset."

He rose from the chair he was sitting on and broke his half of the table with his fist.

"I'M PRETTY FUCKING PISSED OFF!"

A few councillors jumped back slightly, while those who had dealt with him before only gave a small shudder.

"We are not sure how, but this army snuck past all our scouts and agents and managed to gain a foothold in the mountains to the southwest. Currently they are engaging all our forces as guilds are offering support. We are winning but there is a large problem. While we have many forces and far more reinforcements due to recent events they are untrained. They need experience, and unfortunately we do not need any dead heroes here."

Samuel sat back down on his chair and gave a mildly pissed off grunt.

"And?"

They looked at eachother uncertainly.

"And… We were hoping you could-"

"No."

"You will be compensated."

"No."

"You will be remembered as a hero more than TENNO! MY USELESS SON!"

"No."

"We'll reinstate-"

"NO!"

Silence filled the room. The councillors did not know what to do, how would they convince someone so adamant about not helping them, their saviour turned out to be a familiar face.

"Sammy Steele!"

The man who suddenly appeared at the door surprised all the councillors.

"Agent Sidonis?"

Samuel gave a sigh.

"I swear to god Sidonis if you try anything I will shove your head so far up your ass you'll be shitting teeth for months."

The man simply grinned.

"My friend! I have an offer you simply cannot refuse!"

Sidonis just felt a small spike of fear as he found himself staring into the burning eyes of Samuel Steele, just a little terror.

"Talk."

He quickly gathered himself and gave a winning (by his definition) smile.

"Well, how about if you help train our men and women of the rune knight army. We will grant you private operations rights and no need for council operations."

Samuel lazily raised an eyebrow while his arms were crossed.

"Commander Nero here will see to the training of the elite troops."

As he said this, Nero had entered the room with his arm still in a sling; he was however wearing a white plate armor that covered nearly his entire body with a few open spaces where a black under suit was located. Under his unbroken arm was a helmet that would cover his entire head and hide his face from the world. Only showing what seemed to be a black "T" made of hardened glass that allowed him to see through with a "sad mouth" at the lower end of the T.

"And?"

"And. We will allow one of our troopers to spend the rest of their tour of duty serving under Hell's Guard!"

His glad outburst was met with silence.

"And why would I care?

"Trust me, you care bout this one."

As he finished his sentence, there were light footsteps coming from outside. As the person arrived, Samuel's eyes widened as he uttered one phrase:

"No. Fucking. Way."

 **Hell's Guard, Main hall**

Everyone was feeling anxious, yet nobody said a word. They were all awaiting orders; there were several members who performed activities in order to keep their mind relaxed. Which is why Rey was sharpening his katana with a rock while Raina stretched her chains and inspected them while running her hand up and down them in a slow motion. This cause a few rooks to sweat nervously, seeing her stroke that long chain so… Professionally, up and down, up and down.

Brad was sitting at attention while his squad mates were playing a card game, it was some form of monsters on every card while some had apparent magic spells and traps, it roughly translates to "King of games".

Zhuue was recovering well; she was currently sitting at a table surrounded by some of her fans from when she sang, they were offering her small gifts of congratulations on her recovery. Jack was sitting right next to her with a small cup of tea he handed to her, while contently sipping his own.

Krytus and Lucretzia were speaking to Sensō and Ancheindo about classical music including their favourite instruments and planned to perhaps play something together in the future, all the while nobody noticed a small speck of shadows right above Lucretzia's ear.

Jacob however was just busy spinning his revolvers with his fingers, he spun them forth, he spun them back, and he spun them left and right. He even threw them slightly into the air and caught them expertly while still spinning them. Suddenly he seemed to tense, his guns just… Stopped.

"I feel a disturbance in the balance of people, as if someone who has yet to be announced arrives and will join us soon."

Everyone stared at him as the room grew still… Before immediately answering with a united: "Eh?"

"Bad feeling."

"Ah."

Almost as if nothing happened, everyone went back to what they were doing. Until Samuel entered looking no worse for wear since he left, everyone stood at attention immediately.

He then spoke, his voice clear and strong.

"As you all know by now, Fiore is in a state of crisis. This new enemy is causing a stir all around the country and has caused quite some mayhem around the nation, forcing guilds like ours to assist Fiore's army. Therefore we have signed a contract that will leave us as a subgroup of the Rune knight army division."

This caused a flurry of conversations to start in the room; some were discussing great opportunities while others looked at this mission with disdain, among them was Brad who did not look forward to working for the council, but he bit his tongue and chose to listen.

Samuel waited until the small talk died down before continuing.

"We also negotiated a special deal, when the conflict is resolved we will have complete freedom to operate as we see fit without council supervision!"

This caused everyone to give a cheer that shook the building, without the council to be in charge of what missions could be done; they could accept any contract without repercussions and wouldn't need to listen to the snivelling old fools anymore!

"Oh that reminds me."

While everyone was cheering, Samuel brought out a large boom box before clicking play as an instrumental song started playing. Immediately Zhuue, Jack and Samuel put on shades before Samuel started… Singing?

 **Guess who's back, back again, Shady's back, tell a friend.**

He then repeated the phrase: **Guess who's back** around six times before the doors opened revealing an armoured figure that slowly entered the building, it brought a cooling chill with it as it entered.

Everyone was surprised and alarmed at this; they were ready for everything this person might do!

Except for what happened next.

The person brought its arms up towards its head and removed the helm it wore, exposing a beautifully tanned woman with raven hair and pure blue eyes. She looked at the ensemble of people staring in awe before giving a wide smile.

"Honey! I'm home."

Almost instantly her hand shot forward and several spikey ice crystals shot forth, only to be destroyed one by one by several fireballs coming from the resident cowboy.

"If it isn't the fiery asshole appearing."

"The old cold-hearted whore returns."

And so began a battle between Jacob and the newcomer, the mystery woman was using a katana almost twice as long as the one Rey was using, but Jacob was no slouch with his guns.

They battled for several minutes using weapons and magic, seemingly never able to break the eternal stalemate they had created. Everyone was too stunned by the sheer ferocity of the battle to properly act, save for Jack who recovered quickly after the initial shock and just laughed while drinking his tea.

Samuel however had slammed his gauntlet onto his helm in annoyance. He then walked up to the two combatants who were deadlocked and grabbed them by the scruff of their necks like kittens.

"Five seconds, really? Several years and five seconds is all you guys can go without fighting?"

Both the combatants looked at eachother, then at Sam and then looked rather sheepish about it.

Before anyone could ask anything, a pair of excited voices broke the… Temporary quiet they had achieved.

"MOM!"

"MAMA!"

As if on que Rey and Raina jumped the woman and dislodged her from the hanging of shame, hugging her so hard that you'd think she would disappear if they let go. From the pile laughter could be heard from all three, even Samuel chuckled slightly.

"Oh my god, look at how big you've gotten! My children have become adults, oh no I am getting too old. I can see myself sitting on a rocking chair, reminiscing about my dear departed husband."

"I am not dead yet."

"Sometimes I can still hear him."

"Mom! How was your work? Did you get the job done? Did you bring presents?"

Rey excitedly asked.

"Mama! I missed you! Can we have spaghetti tonight?! Please!"

Raina was acting like a little girl whose mother had just returned from work… Which she had?

"Haha! Don't worry kids I will tell you all about it later, but right now mommy is working, ok?"

They both nodded and got off her as she rose to her feet. She turned towards the still shocked guild members.

"My name is Esmeralda "Frostbite" Steele, Strike Commander of the Magic council's outer ops teams. And your new semi-boss for the coming operation. The mission should take up to six months considering the opponents we face rely solely on numbers. But you will be briefed tomorrow, because tonight we party like we were getting paid! BECAUSE YOU ARE!"

This was met with cheers as a party broke out in the guild and everyone began enjoying him or herself.

However most were curious about Samuel's wife and decided to ask a few questions that she gladly answered, they were intrigued about her trips around the world.

"…And then I slammed my fist into the ground and caused massive spikes to shoot up from the ground and killed the bastards."

There were "oohs" and "ahhs".

"So you've seen other countries and worked with other armies and guilds?"

Asked Johnny with awe.

Esmeralda gave a small giggle.

"This one is so cute! And to answer your question yes I have served with other guilds. There was a commander I met called Shepard, he was an amazing warrior and leader, joining his forces on the front lines and claiming victory. Another land had a large guild that covered the entire country, they "Over watched" for any dangers to their home. There were many different men and women working there. Some noteworthy would be a giant knight with a seemingly massive rocket hammer, a dwarf building turrets, the grim reaper with dual shotguns, a ninja made of metal, a monk that could heal any injury and a man with a bow and a young girls with a strange contraption on her chest that allowed her to "blink" back and forth. These heroes and many more worked alongside my own unit to secure future relations between our nations."

Everyone stared in awe, one guild serving an entire nation?! Maybe Hell's Guard would be that strong one-day.

"I also met five multi-coloured ninja looking for a "Sensei Sam", anybody here know him?"

The guild mates just shook their heads or tried to think if they had heard that name before, Jack started to silently snicker while Jacob was banging his fist on the table he was sitting at, failing to contain his laugher while Samuel was just drinking.

Suddenly, Ancheindo popped an interesting question.

"How did the two of you meet?"

This caused everyone to stop and look at the two old warriors with a sudden realization, how did they meet?

The question seems to have caught them off guard as they both looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You wanna tell 'em?"

"No, no, you always did make them sound better."

"Alright then, okay kiddies it was a few years ago. We were doing a sort of live training on a battlefield against a "mirror unit", that is where Emma here came in…"

 **Fiore many years ago**

A young man was running through the battlefield, bullets and explosives echoing around him, he was wearing new standard rune knight armor. A simple armor with steel plates covering his entire body. Along with a traditional knightly helm obscuring his face from everyone. He was armed with a battle-axe and a shield as compared to his allies, as they had all chosen a more modern option of guns or even bow and arrow combinations. As he ran a sudden noise caught his attention, and his instincts screamed for him to get down. So he threw himself forward and narrowly dodged a blade that sliced right where he had previously been. As he rose from the dust covered ground he saw a person with a large katana in a stance that screamed: "Fight me", he unhooked his axe and grabbed his shield and charged at his newfound enemy.

The battle was fierce, while he seemed to hold the upper hand in brute force, his opponent had speed and technique, every time he would slice downwards they'd parry, when he sliced sideways they'd dodge, even while charging they would block it with their blade. The battle seemed endless.

However after a fairly reckless attack, the young man's axe was sliced in half! As he was reeling from the attack, his opponent pushed on and moved to impale their newfound adversary. Only to meet with the shield he was using, the sword surprisingly enough easily impaled it. While it seemed as if the young shield bearer was about to be beaten, he then used the shield to wrench the sword out of his opponent's hands.

Almost immediately after they engaged in close quarters combat, kicks and punches were intercepted by eachother, several hits connected but at the price of being struck by an attack at least as powerful as the one they connected. The battle reached an explosive climax as the two warriors struck with all their remaining strength, a right fist from each fighter connecting with their opponent's head, cracking their helms! The two faltered momentarily, leaning on eachother with their foreheads touching. They then head-butted eachother with everything they had left, resulting in the helmets cracking off completely.

The two fighters, exhausted and unable to defeat their adversary took a long look at the person whom they had been fighting for hours upon end. The axe wielding young man showed his pale skin and orange burning eyes to his opponents, they shone with determination and respect for the fighting prowess his opponent had. A large tuft of blonde spikes resides on the top of his head. He was staring at his opponent, if he wasn't so respectful, he'd be thinking: "Whoah!"

His opponent showed beautiful feminine features that were no longer obscured by her helmet, long luscious raven hair tied neatly in a small bun, a pair of blue eyes that had an authoritarian shine about them, they also held an intrigue for her newly selected rival. Her tanned skin gave her an exotic look, much like a goddess from a distant land. Had she been analysing his features in a less tactical manner, she'd have remarked that he looked kind of cute.

The two-stared eachother down, determined to defeat the other, they rose to their feet and move closer to their opponent.

They went closer.

Closer.

Closer.

 **NOT THAT CLOSE!**

As they were nearly one foot apart they stared at eachother, eyes burning with radiance as they… Proceeded to embrace and began smooching, quite violently.

They were, oh my, rolling around, things were getting heated. Several squad-mates from both sides arrived and were captivated by the show, betting who'd stop first and cheering their friend on. It all was stopped when the commander of the exercise demanded they stop and return to the barracks. But before the young lad and lass separated they exchanged a quick set of words.

"Round 2?"

"Non-armoured combat."

Let's just say, they fought in a most intimate way.

 **Hell's Guard. Present Day.**

"And that everyone, is how I met Esmeralda."

The guild clapped at this, however several groups varied the reactions.

One group was cheering their love on, both men and women were a part of it.

Another was surprised they got together over, trying to kill eachother.

The last one was surprised they "did it" in the army.

Jack was wiping his eyes with a small hanky, before blowing his nose with it while Zhuue was doing the same.

"I-It always brings tears to my eyes. Such a beautiful love story."

He sniffled.

"Don't you agree, Zhuue?"

She blew her nose very loudly and nodded while sniffling.

Jacob sat while letting all his fingers touch eachother at the same time, while he was mulling over this story.

"So, you two met as enemies."

"Yep."

"Fought for hours"

"Affirmative."

"Then kissed for about an hour or so."

"Indeed."

"And then you banged eachother harder than two battleships colliding with eachother."

"Yes, it's not like Samuel just told everyone that story."

Jacob was silent.

"I have several questions."

Samuel decided to answer this time.

"We did use the watermelon, but that was later."

"I have no more questions."

Brad decided to stat his opinion.

"I find it hard to believe such a thing can actually happen in the field. With all due respect, sir."

"I agree with squad lead sir."

Johnny added in.

Samuel merely smiled at the two youngsters.

"Maybe it can or maybe it can't. But if one thing is for certain, it is that love can bloom on the battlefield. An old friend told me that though I never believed him, heh, guess he was right."

As everyone seemed content and slightly inspired from this, they went back to enjoying themselves, only Jack, Jacob Esmeralda and Samuel remained at the table.

"You're gonna have to tell them eventually."

"… I know."

 **Akiba's Journal**

 _After the party, we were all briefed about missions and strike areas to aid in the on going conflict. They told us it would be an easy battle, they told us it'd be easy money, they told us it would be over in six months, on all accounts they were wrong. Months were spent training with gruelling exercises, fighting an endless tide of enemies, reaching locations that were far more inhospitable than any battlefield and other horrid actions that makes my body ache from just thinking about it. Brad proved worthy of his codename of "Dark Horse"; he was fast, loyal and effective in the strikes. I could tell he wasn't happy about working with the council, but he realized the ends justify the means when they are finally rid of the council. Buzz and Cham were still arguing, heh, I swear it is one of the things that keep our little squad together, their loud fighting counters the comfortable silence I establish with Brad. Cham's accuracy is damn good, not as good as Brad's, but damn good indeed. And I should probably take a few lessons from Buzz, the guy hefts a machinegun like it is nothing and handles the recoil efficiently, pretty strong guy. Hopefully this battle will end soon, I don't want us to become a three-man squad. Twenty-six months of war, who could have thought that the country's brightest would prove to be the most foolish?_

 **Convoy transport, currently moving. Present day. Akiba's perspective.**

Dark Horse squad had it rough, we had been sent all around Fiore to assist several guilds fighting, Hell's Guard was stretched thin and that meant everyone had to work even harder to make up for the lack of numbers. Our squad had to go from one area to another with little time for sleep, breaks or even lunch. Even when we caught our breaths we had to be ready for ambushes, currently we had received word that there was no immediate threats nearby so we could all relax for a moment or so. As the convoy rested, I took a moment to think about everything we had faced during these gruelling years. It had been easy at first; those beige ones were called "Clankers" due to their constant clanking march, had it only been them we probably would have won after six months, however almost a month after our first encounter new ones started to pop up. Some were armoured and carried more firepower than the old ones, hard to handle and harder still to beat. Carrying rockets and wrist mounted weapons; we christened them "Supers", their armoured grey carapace still strikes fear into most troopers. Unfortunately these were far from the worst we've encountered. After finally gaining a foothold, a new type was rolled out. They were based on the earlier model, however these bastards were tougher, smarter and at least ten times as deadly as the Clankers. And that was when alone! Usually these bastards guard high value objectives and fight hard to keep it out of our hands, they even put on the uniform of a dead trooper and fooled a lot of our squads, only to kill them afterwards. So now we have code words for identification. Their shape is vaguely human; a smaller head resides on top of their torso with a pair of glowing white eyes. Agile, accurate and merciless, we dubbed them "Commandroids". We nearly lost Buzz before we took one down, while he did survive, he got a nasty scar along his torso. But he didn't get too distraught: "This scar just made me ten times manlier!" he said. It did look kind of cool.

Unfortunately we met some nastier versions of the Clankers along the way. Called them "Rollers", due to the fact that they roll into battle like fast little red wheels. Only to unfold into a three legged, dual machinegun wielding, shielded death traps. Buggers were completely bulletproof and magic proof, due to a shielding bubble around it, we lost three squads of knights to one squad of Rollers. Found out the bastards can't handle a good old-fashioned electric shock, or a good beating with melee weapons. Don't think I've ever seen Brad quite so pissed at something, he wasn't screaming or anything. He was just scowling, pretty hard.

I just wonder how it's been going for the others; I hope they are all right.

 **Magic Council building. Militarized command.**

Hell's guard had joined up with the council's forces and had made some large changes around. The veteran troops of the army would wear pure white plate armor similar to what Nero was wearing, including the strange helmet. Meanwhile all rookies and others trained by Samuel were wearing completely black armor with helmets resembling a fusion between a knight's helm and a gas mask, it looked as if they had a pair of burning red eyes. Samuel's way of training was effective but, horribly unethical.

" **Let's get down to business, to defeat the droids!"**

" **Will you show me you are men, or are you only boys!"**

" **You are the worst soldiers I've ever met and you can bet, before we're through!"**

" **Rookies I'll, take command over you."**

He used a most fitting song about taking command that sounded strangely like "Be a man" but a lot less catchy. Somehow this inspired the men and women to train hard and fight harder, they preferred this way of training to their regular kind. (I do not own the song, Disney does, and I just enjoy it.) Training that should have taken months turned into mere weeks, the soldiers showed little fear of fighting and had an undying loyalty to Samuel and his allies. They fought and bled alongside eachother, of course it would create a bond. Samuel had also issued a change of the guild mark; it had changed into a thick red circle containing what looked like a white dragon's head from above with red eyes staring in rage, it also had a black sword etched into it's head. This emblem was intimidating, yet it also symbolized that Hell's Guard did not show mercy to any enemies. A few hours prior to the training, Samuel had also gone through a change, as he first re-entered the old barracks of the Rune Knight army, he swore the smells from his youth still lingered there.

Jacob commented: "Yeah, you were right about the smells lingering, phew!"

Jack who wore a rather angry expression immediately smacked him.

There were a few soldiers both old and new that paid him no mind; some gave him a suspicious look while others merely shook their heads.

Samuel walked towards an old locker with the initials "SS" scratched into it; he opened the small coded lock and opened the locker. Within the locker, there was an old, rusty, crown shaped helmet with a slightly cracked blue visor. As he grabbed the helmet it began to fade into dust, simultaneously golden dust was changing his armor. By the time the helm had dissappeared, Samuel stood in a white plated armor far more regal and aesthetically pleasing than his old black one. It had gold along it's edges along with a large white cape going from the back, his helmet had been transformed from the intimidating black and red into the beautiful and awe inspiring golden white crown like helm with sky blue visor that covered his eyes. As he turned around, he saw that Jack wore a beaming smile while Jacob's jaw was on the floor from the amazing change Samuel just went through. As he began walking out with his comrades several of the younger guards were awestruck, while the older ones gave a knowing smile and started talking.

"Sarge, you ever gonna let anyone else succeed with the missions? Take a leave already!"

"I'm telling you man, this is steel's year!"

They were chanting: Sam! Sam! Sam! As he walked out smiling beneath his helmet, as he reached the stairs with the soldiers following him, he gave a fist bump to Nero who was standing in the corner observing the exchange, smiling.

As Samuel exited the barracks, all troops in the surrounding area were saluting him and falling in line behind him. He walked towards the entrance to the main building before taking deep breath, turning towards his troops and speaking.

"Ten Hut!"

Everyone stood at attention and saluted.

"At ease, get back to your positions until I call you all for training. Dismissed!"

And with that they all saluted once more before leaving to where they were before.

 **Outskirts of Western Fiore**

Sensō had been nominated to scout a possible zone where the enemy headquarters were located; his skills with bow and arrow along with his magic made him a perfect stealthy scout that could take care of anything trying to beat him. However after what happened to Zhuue he was assigned a partner just in case and, as fate would have it, Alexander was with him and had been given the objective of finding the bastard that had shot Zhuue, he gladly accepted. Luckily, when Zhuue was shot and Jacob, Ilyana and Brad fired at the assailant they had scored three hits. Jacob had ruined his rifle, Ilyana had ruined his helmet, letting them see his face and Brad had struck his arm, letting the blood flow. While they did not kill him, they did find enough traces to search for him. The metal could only be found in the eastern parts of Fiore, near some of the more volcanic areas, his face was wanted across Fiore so populated areas was a big no if he wanted to keep hidden. And thanks to Alexander, they now had a scent. After tasting the blood, he then smelled it and caught the bastard's smell with his enhanced senses. He'd been tracking him around Fiore for two years; during that time Sensō had proven invaluable in taking out targeted high value individuals, he pulled of shots that would make even the most experienced archer blush.

Currently they were scouting near a volcano, the heat, sulphur and occasional rockslide were not lethal, but they sure were distracting.

"So then, I shot it just above the guy and caused the balcony to fall right on top of him. Then our boys took good care of the rest of 'em."

"That's great Sensō. However, I asked if you found anything regarding the droid base not what your most recent kill was."

Sensō was quiet for a while.

"Oh, no I haven't but I'm pretty sure that soon-"  
"Shh!"

As Sensō began to speak Alexander nearly immediately silenced him, while sniffing the air vigorously before giving a predatory grin.

"He is here."

Sensō's eyes widened at this.

"You can smell him? Through the sulphur?"

He nodded his head.

As they followed Alexander's nose they found a battalion of droids standing out in the open with one of their "Tactical droids" standing with it's arms behind it's back. It was speaking to a man that was wearing blue plated armor with white markings, black hair, tanned skin and a busted rifle on his back. He seemed to be shouting at the droid.

Sensō was taking in every detail of the area, marking every advantage and opening in the area, he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. As he turned to his left he saw Alexander sitting there with his hands transformed into claws, and his teeth turned into fangs looking ready to rip apart anything he got his hands on, he was breathing heavily while staring at them.

"Uh Alex?"

"…"

"Alex you alright?"

"…"

"Alex!"

"Hm?!"

"Are you alright? You seemed rather… Murder-y"

"…Yeah, just a bit excited. Hold on, lemme tell ya what they are saying."

Sensō nodded while preparing to write down everything he was told.

"Why the hell haven't we won yet?! I was told there'd be swift and efficient results with these droids, but all I've gotten is a bounty and my best rifle destroyed!"

"You must show patience master Santiago, our numbers may be grand but the enemy is fighting hard and are using all their strength. However soon we should be able to push them back and conquer the central area of Fiore giving us the greatest foothold in this war."

"This better work tin can, and tell "Mistress" that Vido Santiago will not get killed because her damn toasters failed to defeat one guild!"

"Understood, General Kalani will not fail in his objective."

"You better be damn sure."

As he said this he stomped towards the mountainside with the "Tac" droid following alongside the battalion of Clankers. The two men staring looked at eachother before nodding and returning to base.

 **Magic Council. Command building.**

"Doll, what do you think of the central area of Fiore, should our defences be centralized there or should we spread out?"

Ancheindo focused as she ran her finger along the rim of the glass, seeing vivid images of battle yet she could not see where it was, she did however see a mass of droids and soldiers fighting, along with a black plated droid, with golden curved lines with three red eyes and a deep reverberating voice and lethal rifle destroying many a men while leading his army.

She then looked back towards Samuel and informed him.

"I saw a great battle, largest one I've ever seen, an enormous amount of droids and soldiers. A black plated general, he was decorated with gold, and he had three red eyes and was battling alongside his troops, killing many of ours. I am sorry I could not offer any more assistance than that."

Samuel walked up to her, put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"You have helped us more than you could ever imagine, now please rest you have used that ability much for our sake. We will take care of the rest Ancheindo.

She smiled at him, saluted slightly and walked off with a small: "Yes sir."

Samuel then turned back to the table and started mulling about strategies with the others at the table.

"If we split our forces, it will be a greater chance that they attack one of our weakened areas where the guard is too thin."

Nero nodded and added his own suggestions.

"However if we centralize our defences we risk losing the areas without guardians."

"We will simply have to wait for good news until we do something."

Nero nodded sagely.

Just then Krytus, Lucretzia, Sensō and Alexander entered. All saluting.

"Sir, Sensō and Alexander discovered the enemy's secret base, Krytus and myself managed to find them during our own search and brought them here as soon as possible."

Samuel nodded.

"Thank you Lucretzia, Sensō report."

He gave a brief nod before reporting.

"We found them around the volcano "Magmos", there is a secret entrance they use to enter it is disguised as a cave wall."

Zaeed Massani, one of the oldest mercenaries in the business decided to make his position known to the other occupants.

"Anything else we need to know? Any individuals? Entrances?"

Alexander answered his question.

"The only other thing was the fuckface that shot Zhuue, I think his name was Vid-"

"VIDO SANTIAGO?!"

Zaeed suddenly burst out, cutting off Alexander.

"…Yes?"

He suddenly grabbed Alexander by the shirt and lifted him into the air.

"Are you absolutely certain it was him?! Without a goddamn doubt?!"

Alexander's face suddenly shifted into that of the man in question before repeating in his voice: "This better work tin can, and tell "Mistress" that Vido Santiago will not get killed because her damn toasters failed to defeat one guild!"

Zaeed let him go and stared at Alexander with a hard scowl.

"Yeah, that's the son of a bitch."

Samuel walked up to the two men, before putting a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Alex, you have performed admirably, you and Sensō can take a moments rest while we plan the assault, Zaeed you are gonna join us on the strike on the enemy stronghold."

"As will I."

They turned towards the voice and discovered Jack with a determined face.

"You will need a medic, and I cannot let this scumbag get away with what he did to Zhuue."

Samuel walked towards Jack and stood in front of him with an equally determined face.

Suddenly both brought out their right hands and slapped left, then right, up and then down and finally grabbing each other's hands like an arm wrestling grip, before making it a handshake, and finally becoming a bro hug.

"Heh, I couldn't stop you from coming even if I tried. Rouse the men, call up Dark Horse squad and ready a charge on central Fiore, I have a feeling that is where they want to fight.

 **Western Fiore, Magmos**

A strike team had been assembled to assault the base while the rest of the army would defend against the massive droid army, the strike force could see said droid army marching out of the crevice, thousands of Clankers, hundreds of Supers, dozens and dozens of Rollers and Commandroids. One hell of a fight they were up against, and at the very back a tank with the black plated general riding on top of it.

"Alright as we enter we will divide into several different teams with one objective all in all, destroy their production and stop the Mistress. We will rendezvous at the command centre."

Everyone just nodded silently while checking his or her equipment one more time before entering.

"Meanwhile Esmeralda, Nero, Lucretzia and Zhuue will be fighting on the battlefield to try and hold them down or defeat their army, this will serve as the distraction we will use to infiltrate the base and beat them. Is everyone ready?"

They all responded with a: "Yes sir."

He nodded before grabbing his helmet and putting it back on.

"Initiate Operation "Gate crasher."

And with that, Samuel charged at the mountain shoulder first.

 **Inside Magmos, Droid base**

Unit B1-224 was having a god day, he had just been promoted to security detail of the base, and since no one knew its location it was the safest job you could have. Yep things were finally going his wa-

But a massive armoured man bursting through the entrance interrupted 224's patrol route.

"That got their attention! The whole base is on alert! Alex you and me are going to find the enemy leader, everybody else is to destroy everything you can find of importance! Got it? Let's go!"

And so with alarms blaring and droids scrambling, the strike force split up to stop their most powerful enemy.

 **Central Fiore battlefield**

Lucretzia stood in front of the massive army of rune knights and guild members, ready to face the oncoming battle. Standing next to her was Commander Nero wearing a crusader helmet with rather fitting gear, however instead of a red cross on his armor there was a sun with red streaks of "light" with a neutral face. Next to him stood Zhuue, sharpening her spear with her gasmask on, waiting, preparing for the most difficult battle she has ever faced. She couldn't wait. And finally, last but certainly not least was Esmeralda, her red blade shining in the light of the midday sun. Excited to do such a grand battle alongside comrades. They could see the enemy on the opposite side of the field, massing in the thousands with tanks, troops and other weapons. And standing at the very front of them was a black plated, gold decorated three red-eyed warrior that would lead them to victory.

Nero decided to speak up.

"Soldiers! Currently we face an enemy with no mercy, fear or reason. However they do not possess our skills, teamwork or unity! We will fight them, we will beat them and we will scrap them from the face of Fiore! Meanwhile Colonel Steele is personally heading for the enemy stronghold to defeat their leader, so let's give him one hell of a distraction!"

Everyone raise a fist a replied with a hearty "HOAH!"

And so began one of the greatest battle ever fought in Fiore, to determine if freedom would remain, or the utter annihilation of everything.

 **Magmos, Droid base**

 _Red reminder and Armored lightning_

Sensō had been paired with Raina for the duration of this mission, find the power source of the base and take it out, that was however easier said than done due to the enormous amounts of Clankers everywhere.

Sensō kept aiming for those that were far more of a challenge alone rather than numbers, like the Supers or Commandroids, meanwhile Raina was savaging her way through a ton of scrap with her blades and chains eviscerating everything in her path. Their magic worked wonders together against the masses of metal, the fact that one was ranged and the other close quarters mattered little when they beat so many.

As they advanced, they found a massive structure crackling with power, it looked much like lightning but you could feel it's massive raw power emanating from it.

They were completely silent and in awe of the power they felt, before Sensō broke it.

"So, uh… How do we wreck it?"

"I don't suppose your arrows have an explosive touch to them?"

"Sorta, but nothing big enough to break this thing."

Raina gave a sigh.

"Looks like were gonna have to drain it."

Sensō looked at her with a befuddled expression.

"How?"

"Grab your bow, pull the string back and prepare an arrow."

He did as he was told and had an arrow ready.

"Now what?"

"Repeat after me, but with force and purpose."

"Alright."

"Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau."

" **RYUU GA WAGA TEKI WO KURAU!"**

As he finished the sentence, he let loose the arrow and from it sprung a massive green dragon made of green lightning, heading towards the mass of power, but before he could utter his own amazement Raina ran ahead and jumped into it while yelling at the top of her lungs.

" **RYUJIN NO KEN WO KURAE!"**

And as she did, two blue lightning dragons appeared around the one green dragon with Raina riding headlong into the power source before being caught up in it. She gave a mighty shout as the power surged around her before suddenly being absorbed as she then fell to the floor unconscious. Sensō rushed forward and stirred her awake by shaking her roughly, she came to as he shook her a third time.

"…What happened?"

"You rode with three lightning dragons into an incredibly powerful source of magic and absorbed everything before passing out."

"… Was it awesome?"

"Totally, you good to go?"

"Of course!"

And as she stood up she looked ok, before falling face forward onto the floor.

"… Yeah maybe we should rest a little."

"Ok, I mean I'm ready to go but if you need rest sure."

Came Raina's muffled reply from her place on the floor.

Sensō shook his head while smiling slightly.

"I'll keep watch and we'll rendezvous with Samuel and the others in the command room as soon as we can."

 _Dark horse and Hidden shadow_

Bullets were flying in every direction as the two of them were currently pinned in the middle of a hallway with several Supers and Clankers suppressing them while a pair of auto turrets were firing and not giving them any chance to fire back.

"This is Sergeant Dark horse, we are pinned down in a hallway leading towards the command centre, requesting assistance!"

There was a nearly immediate reply.

"Sir this is Chameleon and Buzzard! We were split off from the main force but have found our ways towards the auto turret mainframe and weapons stockpile. Should we sabotage them?"

Rey decided to answer.

"Affirmative, blow these Clankers to hell with their own damn guns, as soon as you break the auto turrets, me and Horsey here are gonna meet you at the command centre with the rest!"

There was silence for some time before a loud boom shook the building forcing the turrets into deactivation, giving our two heroes a chance to fire back.

"Brad, I got an idea and it's pretty stupid."

"When has that ever stopped you?"

"I'm gonna need to you stand in the middle of the hall and fire into the masses of Clankers, trust me you will not be hit."

He was silent for a while, before answering.

"I trust you."

As he stepped into the hallway a shadowy mist filled the room around him, he could easily see through it and fired into the mass of droids. What surprised him was the fact that when he fired in one direction a pair of guns fired in the opposite direction and hit another pair of droids. This continued for a few seconds until all their metallic hostiles were defeated. As he holstered his guns, Rey appeared next to him, only to fall down on his hands and knees while breathing heavily.

As Brad took a closer look, he noticed several wounds all over Rey's body, including a rather large wound on his lower abdomen.

"I don't understand… How?"

"Heh, told ya you'd never be hit, but the damn things needed to go somewhere, right?

Managed to dodge a lot but one found its mark."

"We need to get you medical assistance."

"No! We must, we must rally with the others and end this. No sacrifice, no victory. Right?"

Brad was silent for what felt like hours, before finally answering.

"Alright, but you better not die on the way back. That's an order."

Rey gave a small smile.

"Heh, alright subordinate sir. Let's hustle."

And so, Rey was semi-carried by Brad all the way to the command centre to meet with the rest of their allies.

 _Chameleon and Buzzard_

"Affirmative, blow these Clankers to hell!"

The two nodded as they received their orders.

"Cham, you handle the turrets. I got enough boom here to make their stockpile go sky high!"

"Ok, radio when you are done."

"Got it."

Cham had it easy, the auto turret section had been weakened due to the attack so there were only about five wimpy Clankers guarding the room.

"Buzz, I got the auto turret section secured, hacking it now."

The reply he heard was several rifles discharging and some profanity.

"Buzz, how copy?"

"FUCKING CLANKERS! There is a ton of em here, armed with every damn gun they got! Supers and Rollers are here too! There is no damn way out!"

Cham was getting worried.

"Roger, I'll round back to you after I hack it, we'll get you outta there!"

"Negative! Too many of 'em! You head on to the rendezvous! I'll take them out!"

Cham shook his head.

"Negative, you don't have the men."

"No, but I have the means."

"… I'm gonna miss you Buzz."

"Same here pal."

As the line went dead, Buzzard primed the explosive he brought and threw them next to the biggest collection of weapons he could see. Before firing his machine gun sporadically while attempting to mow down as many as possible, unfortunately he was hit several times and fell back towards the wall, wounded severely but still alive.

Several Clankers walked up to him, before asking eachother:

"Do we take prisoners?"

He looked up with blood dripping from his mouth before uttering his last words as explosives engulfed him and all of them.

"I. Don't."

 **Central Fiore battlefield**

General Kalani was beginning to grow tired of these annoying humans, they kept on fighting even though they were outmanned and outgunned. Yet, they were not outmatched. Several of their warriors put up a great fight and destroyed several B1 and B2 units. However, the most ferocious appeared to be the white plated armoured female, her skill with a blade was impressive, and her magic potential was incredible as proven by several tanks currently impaled by massive ice spikes emerging from the ground.

"TD U-74, you will assume command of the battle force for the time being."

The "Tac" in question looked towards its superior officer.

"General, what has brought this sudden change to the chain of command?"

Kalani looked ahead upon the battlefield and caught a glimpse of the red blade he respected.

"I will handle the matters of the enemy commander personally in combat. Continue with my strategies and do not stop until we achieve victory."

"Affirmative general."

And with that the general leapt towards where he saw the blade disappear into, landing amidst an enemy squadron he annihilated with quick fire from his built in rifle and sword.

Nero was having a pretty good fight today; he was wearing his special "sun armor" and was enjoying the boost he got from fighting in the sun.

"YAH!"

And with a shout he threw a spear made of sunlight into a tank that was engulfed in flames as it exploded from a single blow.

"Praise the Sun!"

And so he adopted a position of a human "Y", but from the perspective in front of him it looked as if the sun was between his hands.

Suddenly a message was sent to him.

"Sir! The enemy general has joined combat and seems to be after Colonel Frostbite! What do we do?!"

Nero looked towards the large amount of soldiers being taken out and gave a hard stare.

"If it's a fight he wants, it is a fight he'll get."

He immediately called Esmeralda.

"Yo Emma, black and gold showed himself and he is looking for you. Give him a beating, would ya?"

Her reply was immediate.

"Got it, you try and break their attacks while I go dance with metal head."

As soon as the call ceased Nero changed armor.

" **Requip: Armor of the Chief."**

Once more donning the olive green armor, Nero charged the army in hopes to cause enough destruction that his forces could more easily win.

Meanwhile Esmeralda had engaged Kalani.

Blades clashed, each one aimed masterfully to try and slay the other. They had a deadly dance going on and woe betide any who should attempt to interfere.

"You are pretty good for a tin-can."

"Your skills are superior to that of any other organic currently within the area of operations. You have a choice to join us and allow the Mistress to upgrade you and turn you into an unstoppable destroyer of armies."

She merely smirked.

"Sorry, I don't do creepy robot fuckup."

"How unfortunate."

And thusly their swift slicing duel continued, they were moving faster now, with the purpose of killing the other one burned into their mind.

Meanwhile, Lucretzia and Ancheindo were behind their defensive lines trying to choose what they should do.

"…How will the battle fare if I do not interfere?"

Ancheindo once more ran her finger around the rim of a glass, her predictions had saved many lives and secured many victories but the girl was exhausted, and she had been using the ability far more than she should and was therefore ordered not to use it unless absolutely necessary.

"I can see both a possibility of victory and one for defeat. They are both equal in chance without you and I cannot determine the path to reach them. I am sorry I can't be of more specific assistance but I have spent many days making sure the troops don't get massacred."

Lucretzia merely nodded and walked towards the battlements.

"Prepare a capture squad if… If I lose control, once again. Please."

Ancheindo simply nodded.

" **Come forth spirit of the Vengeful Protector: Corvo!"**

Suddenly a figure clad in rather fancy garbs appeared from the shadows, looking similar to a navy captain but with a hood covering his head and an emotionless iron mask with small lenses where the eyes are. He stared at Ancheindo before turning his attention to his mistress and gave a bow as she gave a curtsey without a dress. Her clothing had changed out of her armor into clothing befitting of an assassin, with a thick scarf covering her lower face and a had a darkened triangle hat covering her hair. She also had a duelling sword by her left thigh.

"…"

They said nothing as shadowy smoke surrounded them and made them disappear from the area and emerge in combat. Lucretzia fought with great swordsmanship and countered any strike or shot sent her way. While her mind was focused on combat, a small part worried about her friends over at the enemy headquarters. Hopefully her brother would be all right.

 **Magmos, Droid base**

 _Warlock and Sheriff_

Jacob was having fun, he was blasting these scrap heaps left and right, burning 'em and even getting ideas for new trick shots.

Krytus however kept worrying about his sister, was she all right? Had she been attacked? Was she dead?!

"Snap out of it moron!"

He was brought back from his reverie by Jacob's outburst.

"A-Apologies, I was merely thinking of the current state my sister is in."

"Well think about this! Six Commandroids!"

The six Commandroids appearing in front of them, rifles and large blades at the ready, proved his assumptions correct.

"Move ahead to the command centre, I got these scrap heads."

He turned towards his cowboy companion.

"Are you certain?"

He received a simple nod.

"Understood."

With that he opened a portal and stepped through, leaving Jacob with the six elite Clankers.

"How abut a challenge, quick draw anyone?"

The droids stopped in their tracks and looked at eachother before holstering their blades before putting their rifles at their hips like revolvers.

"Hell, this'll be fun."

There was no movement as the seven individuals waited for the signal.

"It's lunchtime."

And with that said Jacob brought out his gun and fired all six rounds into the Commandroids, incapacitating yet not destroying them.

"You're pretty good." And with that said he walked on to the command centre, but before he was out of earshot he heard his own voice, with a more robotic touch.

"Pretty… Good."

He gave a smirk and tipped his hat to the droids on the floor before walking on.

Secretly hoping they would be fixed.

 _Revenant and Delta force_

Delta force consisted of six rather elite classed members of Hell's Guard.

Moon "Jammer" Liu

Angela "Pitbull" Lombardi

Harumi "Dread" Fuji

Killian "Sentinel" O'Reilly

Kirill "Fireball" Sidorov

Susana "Calamity" Lebedeva

Frida "Kong" Meyer

They all specialized in large-scale assaults for the most part including eliminations, escorts, sabotage and defensive deployments.

Currently they were holding off the main force of defenders in the base and were doing a damn good job.

Jammer was actually hacking into a few of the Clankers and turned them against their kin while shooting several down. His skills and tactics were impressive to say the least.

Pitbull was charging into the fray, her shotgun in one hand and a machete in the other, she was renown for her ferocity and brutal melee tactics in the field

Dread was using the power of her mind to fling and rip many of them apart while keeping a psychic link with her allies so they all may stay in constant contact.

Sentinel shot a lot of damn good shots, bringing down a multitude of Supers even. However most welcome was his medical training and skills that kept the squad patched up and fight worthy.

Kong and Fireball were both the physically strongest of the group and could thereby carry heavy weapons, Kong was a master at supressing and destroying cover while Fireball did, just as his nickname entitles, cover destroying fire that works well at clearing out hostiles. They were both firing into the sea of Clankers and Supers with ease.

Finally, the squad leader Calamity was picking off HVI (High Value Individuals) From a distance with her rifle. She had been trained in these last few months by Revenant, and the results had been devastatingly effective. She was destroying Commandroids, Rollers and Clankers with specialized weapons with utter ease thanks to her training and above all, her team.

Meanwhile Ilyana herself was near the frontlines of the action, she was using her rifle without it's scope to defeat any mid or long range adversaries while she used her machete to chop up any that came close. The squadron was dressed up much like her, clothing that looked like desert military wear, with several items of their own choosing adorning them, along with their equipment. Key difference being all of them wore helmets that obscured their features and kept them safe from headshots. It helped that nearly all of them were trained as commandos under Nero.

Currently they were pushing the Clankers back; Pitbull and Calamity destroyed Rollers and Commandroids while Supers and Clankers were taken care of by the rest, all of that changed when a new "face" appeared.

From the back lines of the Clanker army a tall imposing figure appeared, it had a cloak draped over its right shoulder, falling all the way to the floor from it's back. It had a pair of red burning eyes and what seemed like a rectangular vertical hole where it's mouth was supposed to be. It brought out a large fighting staff, which then proceeded to crackle to life as three blades appeared at the edges, crackling with purplish energy. Six Commandroids that immediately engaged the enemy flanked it. The mystery droid jumped to an incredible height before landing directly in front of Calamity, the poor girl couldn't even react before the thing impaled her with it's staff, killing her instantly. The others noticed and began firing wildly at the new assailant. It proved far too agile to get hit; soon Sentinel found himself with a snapped neck and Jammer was struck enough times with the staff, so that his heart just stopped.

Fireball and Kong fired for all they were worth but the damn thing spun its staff so swiftly it either blocked or deflected any bullets that got close. Unfortunately, they forgot about the Commandroids and were immediately shot to death from behind. Ilyana and Pitbull were both in the centre fending off wave after wave of hostiles. And before long, only they, the Commandroids and the leader remained.

"Ma'am. I'll deal with the Commandroids, you handle big ugly."

"Soldier, there is no way you can take out six droids and get out alive."

"Didn't say alive ma'am."

Ilyana was quiet for a while before finally speaking up.

"Your squad is holding a seat, give 'em one hell of a story when you get there."

Pitbull nodded.

"Yes mom."

If Ilyana caught that little misstep, she didn't show. She merely removed her helm and mask before charging the droid leader.

" _I called her mom, hopefully she didn't catch that. But… She kinda was like mom anyway."_

"For Hell's Guard!"

And so Pitbull charged the six Commandroids with her machete held high, the droids replicated her gesture and charged her. As each side arrived, Pitbull threw her hand out while stabbing her blade forth. Missing all droids entirely. The droids however, all struck true. Several blades either impaled her or cut deep enough to be fatal. But Pitbull was laughing.

"See ya in hell tin-cans…"

It was then she revealed herself to have stabbed an explosive that went of before the droids noticed, taking her and her opponents out.

Ilyana was locked in combat, but she still felt the shockwave. A single tear fell down her cheek as she fought, her machete holding strong against the droids weapon.

As they fought, Ilyana's strikes became stronger, faster and more ferocious, her blade was glowing with her magic and soon it sliced clean through the staff before beheading the droid. She turned to walk away, but her instincts screamed at her to duck, so she did. Only to dodge a blade attempting to decapitate her, with an expert roll she then turned and sliced the new would be assailant in two. It was then she noticed that it was the beheaded new droid she just beat. It now lay sliced in half, showing no signs of surviving.

"Damn, I gotta warn the others about this thing. But first."

She walked towards the site of the large explosion, there she found a slightly charred shoulder guard, she immediately loosened her own and put the new one on.

She gave a sad smile and spoke before leaving for the command centre.

"Heh, now you can watch over me, kid."

 _Butcher and Steele_

They had been running through many a droid, crushing their way through any obstacles, droid and door alike. As they arrived at the centre of the complex, they stared in awe at the mass of screens around the room that showed every battle zone they had ever been to when fighting the droid army. And at the centre of the room, stood a squadron of four droids, all of them being the new type. All of them with their staffs at the ready. And behind them, sitting upon a throne of steel and cables sat the "Mistress". Supreme commander of the droid army, and currently the most wanted person in Fiore.

"Welcome Samuel Steele, you have arrived precisely when I calculated. How do you enjoy my hospitality? I do hope it was not too much of a problem."

Samuel merely raised his blade and pointed at her with it.

"This ends here, be it your defeat or my death the war ends today!"

"Agreed, but first, meet my bodyguards. The IG-100 series combat droids. Much like the BX they are superior in nearly every way to anything I have previously created. They can match skills with any kind of soldier on the field, mage or not."

Alexander smirked.

"Then it's damn good news I'm here. 'Cuz you ain't ever seen something like me before!"

"Let's go, Alexander!"

"Roger!"

And so, began the battle that would determine the end of the war, be it victory for Hell's Guard and it's allies or victory for Mistress' army and the death of millions. Who shall win and who shall lose? Find out next time on Hell's Guard!

 **A/N:** Man that was a lot of things happening, and sorry for the cliff-hanger but I felt that if I went on it would be too much happening in one chapter and not enough to have you guys excited for the next chapter! And as you now can see, we have lost one of our main character and several that were here in the beginning. Don't worry, there will be a lot more death so place your bets on survivors and keep your fingers crossed because things are gonna get bloody!

Anyway, Review/Follow/Favourite! Tell me what you liked. What can I do better? Submit a character! And I'll see you around! Ciao.

 **PS:** Credit for longest chapter I've made! Also I do not own Overwatch, Mass effect, Mulan, Star Wars or any other little references that are in the story. Also, there will be more. I don't own that either.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: "Honour and Glory"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"We are reinstating your rank."

"No. Fucking. Way."

"Vido Santiago!"

"I'll miss you."

"Was it awesome?"

"Yes mom."

 **Magmos, Droid base**

The earlier ensuing battles ended in many victories for Hell's Guard, however hefty prices were paid for them and now our heroes shall honour those sacrifices by ending this damnable war once and for all.

 _Doc and Zaeed_

The trek Jack had made with Zaeed was longer yet less guarded by hostiles; they either killed any they found swiftly with use of dissection or perforation by bullets. They had also faced a few human soldiers wearing similar armor to their target.

"Blue suns, created them back with Vido. Bastard paid five of them to hold me down while he pulled the trigger."

"It is most impressive you managed to survive. Normally I would advise against seeking revenge and dropping the grudge. But this man does not deserve to live any more."

Zaeed simply nodded before they continued from their little rest stop.

As they entered a foundry like area with several Clankers being carried via conveyor belts, standing on a small balcony of sorts, staring at them with a sneer was Vido Santiago.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't old Zaeed Massani. Seems like a bullet wasn't enough last time, don't worry this time I'll make sure you stay down."

"Vido."

Before Zaeed could do anything, two "Blue Suns" showed up with their rifles aimed at him and Jack.

"And who is your friend? A nurse for you old man?"

Jack merely raised an eyebrow at this before answering.

"Doctor James "Jack" Stahl, MD. PhD. Specializing in medicinal healing, precision surgery and battlefield medication. And you must be Vido Santiago, CO-founder of the Blue Suns mercenary company. The greedy fuckhead that betrayed his partner for the sake of money, joined up with an army set on killing the major populous of Fiore and the guy who shot an innocent bystander in the throat. Am I correct?"

Vido stared at him, silently impressed by the gathered information but recovered quickly by giving an order to his men.

"Kill them both!"

Suddenly Zaeed began running to the right for cover while the soldiers were opening fire, however everything seemed to slow down until time seemingly stopped. Yet Jack looked unaffected.

He then opened his eyes and began scheming.

"Bullets fired at these degrees and angles have a heightened chance of missing and ricocheting, their current height makes melee an unfavourable an unproductive tactic, they currently are stationed near a flammable gas tank that could result in a distraction and perhaps even instrument in their destruction. Zaeed is in a tactical position that allows him a clear shot at the large tank rather than Vido himself. Conclusion, with minor adjustment to bullet and support shot from Zaeed, clearing the balcony will be accomplished."

Soon time started again and as he expected, several bullets ricocheted off the floor and walls of the room, one got very close and Jack only slightly nudged it with his blade and forced it to collide with the gas tank. Vido seemed to think it was Zaeed's doing.

"Going blind old man?"

"Not my shot."

And as he said this, Zaeed fired a single bullet at the tank causing it to erupt in flames and spraying the men on the balcony with shrapnel and fire. While the guards died Vido was merely wounded, several mercs and a few Clankers covered his retreat.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was just that good?"

"You could say you were using potato power for all I care as long as it helps me with killing Vido."

"Noted"

They cleared the way and headed toward Vido's escape route, before being stopped by a large, orange brownish, six-legged crablike droid the size of a car with small beady red eyes and a massive pair of cannons underneath.

Zaeed was surprised and swore as he ran into cover.

"Shit!"

"I really don't have time for this."

And just like that Jack jumped atop the thing and impaled his blades into the small and unprotected area between its eyes and cannons. Destroying it instantly.

Zaeed just stared in amazement.

"Ahem, Vido?"

"Oh right!"

As they reached a room that probably used to house a vehicle, Vido was on the ground, bleeding profusely from the wounds he attained from the little gas accident.

"Zaeed, what happened between us wasn't personal, just business!"

Zaeed frowned.

"Let me show you my personal business."

Vido looked around franticly for an exit before his eyes landed on Jack.

"You! Doctor! You can see this isn't fair right?! I'm dying here! At least give me a chance to fight Zaeed like a man!"

Jack seemed to think it over before nodding.

"Zaeed, give him this healing agent."

"WHAT?! Why would I give this goddamn traitor anything?!"

"It will serve as a lesson in efficiency."

Zaeed grumbled before grabbing the vial of green and threw it at Vido, the liquid dissappeared almost immediately.

"Oh dear."

Zaeed turned towards Jack whose face was in that of "mock shock."

"It appears the healing agent was in my other pocket."

Zaeed raised an eyebrow at this.

"So what exactly did I just throw at him?"

Their conversation was interrupted by bloodcurdling screams coming from in front of them.

"That would be Zhuue's saliva sample. Don't worry, after five minutes of agony the acid will have melted off everything but the bones. Now, if you'll excuse me I shall join my companions in the command centre. Bring me back a femur would you?"

Zaeed just stared at the tortured man in front of him while answering him.

"Yeah, sure."

As Jack walked off he thought to himself:

" _This whole torture business isn't my style but hey. Mess with my mercs and you get chemically dissolved by a powerful acidic agent."_

 _Butcher and Steele_

The battle had been exhausting to say the least, as soon as Samuel or Alexander grabbed one the others would come to its aid resulting in damage being dealt to the two. While Samuel was planning Alexander just got angrier and angrier.

"FUCK THIS I'M GONNA RIP YOU A NEW ASSHOLE YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SHITTY TOASTER ASSED MOTHER FUCKING SHIT CURDLING FUCK MOTHERING ASS CHAPPED CRAP-CICLES!"

By the time his rant was complete he had turned his hands into massive claws and leaped towards them, only to be grabbed by the scruff of his neck by Samuel.

"WHAT THE?!"

"Here comes the birdy!"

Samuel then flung Alexander towards the four droids; they all dodged him rather easily before focusing their attention on him, big mistake.

"COME HERE!"

Seemingly out of nowhere a large hook attached to a chain appeared and impaled one of the droids before pulling it backwards. The other droids turned and saw that it was Samuel using a large chained hook to reel in the droid before ripping it in half with his bare hands.

While the droids attempted to choose what target had priority, another decisive blow was struck.

"WATCH THE BIRDIE!"

And with that Alexander reappeared and impaled another one with his claws, one in it's lower body and one in it's upper, before ripping the entire thing in two and flinging the pieces god knows where.

The remaining two distanced themselves from their enemies and stood guard close to their mistress.

"Impressive, haphazardly using your ally as a distraction in order to destroy my bodyguard, quite a masterful and tactical decision. And then distracting them so that your companion was able to strike, you are far more of a threat than I previously assessed. However."

As she finished her sentence, dozens of bodyguards appeared from the ceiling and several Commandroids and Rollers came from doors opening around the room, numbering in the hundreds.

"I am always prepared."

Samuel and Alexander looked around the room, thinking over their actions.

"Guess this is how we go out eh, boss?"

"Been a damned good ride, you'll probably make it out alive. Always were hard to kill."

"Well, least I'm going down with a hell of a fight."

Their reverie was broken, alongside the walls, as several Hells' Guard members broke in lead by… Johnny?!

"Rocketeers go! Aim for the Rollers! Sharpshooters take out the Commandroids! Guys, get the guards and let's give Boss a chance to fight Mistress!"

Around Johnny appeared everyone who had been a part of the strike team, ready and rearing to go for another few rounds with their enemies. They all replied with a loud and proud: "YES!"

Soon the "throne room" was filled with bullets and soldiers fighting, elites fighting eachother, and explosions from the large amount of explosives brought from both sides.

And within the centre of this whirlpool of chaos, stood Samuel and Alex, directly in front of the Mistress, she had decided to combat them herself.

"Easy as pie, two of us and only one of her."

Seemingly as if just to taunt him, a smaller person was ejected from Mistress and took up a combative pose, now there was an armoured person taller than almost everyone at the guild and a slightly shorter and more humane looking person next to it, wearing a blackened under suit with a strange helmet that resembled VR gear yet slimmer, covering the eyes with a black mask that covered the rest of the person's face.

"You had to say something."

"Heh, sorry boss."

Without warning the two figures attacked. The larger one going for Alexander and the leaner one going for Samuel.

Alexander's battle had been going fairly well, untill the damn thing decided to armor up and use a chainsaw that extended from its wrist. It had been coated in something nasty due to the fact that when it impaled Alex's side the wound would not close and heal like many other wounds he had received of far greater magnitude.

"Fuck your saw!"

And with a lucky yet risky strike her removed the saw by catching it between his knee and elbow and crushing it with his other arm.

"A tactful decision, but ultimately futile. I have been built to destroy Hell's Guard, programmed to destroy every member in a different way. My chassis has been developed and reinforced with shock resistant plating to counter the strength of every member of Hell's Guard. And my creator trained to counter your master personally. Thus eliminating any chance of victory."

Alex punched, kicked and even tried to head-butt. But all ended with wounds and pain.

"Surrender and I will make your end quick."

"Heh"

Alexander wiped blood from his mouth as he rose after yet another beating.

"Surrender? You forget one thing."

He grabbed a combative pose and smirked slightly.

"I DON'T QUIT TIL' I GET PAID!"

And suddenly he charged towards his enemy while it did the same, striking with an incredibly hard punch, creating shockwaves of force, knocking down several droids and soldiers around them.

"Do you not remember my chassis can withstand even your strongest blows?"

"Of course I do!"

Both then simultaneously punched with their right and left fists each connecting with the other's fist, before rapidly punching and connecting with the opponents fist. However, Alexander punched faster and managed to land several strikes upon his opponent's body, and suddenly his arms looked slightly larger than before as he uttered a sentence.

"You have shock absorption, not nullification. It means you got a limit!"

And so, with a slight flash his appearance altered into that of a much bulkier version of himself with his hair adopting several different colours each representing a guild member, simultaneously his strikes started doing some actual damage to the plating. His enemy striking near his abdomen where he had been impaled interrupted him. Stunning him for a second, before he a fire burnt in his now oranges eyes.

"Built to counter all I have, huh? I'll just have to above and BEYOND THAT!"

As he was saying this he was pushing his opponent backwards as he advanced while punching.

As he did, several of his punches slipped past the "armour's" defence and struck its faceplate and other areas that started to buckle under his onslaught. But at the same time his face was receiving several grazing blows that opened wounds, but he still went at it.

Johnny was mesmerized by the fight, while Alex was bleeding, wounded and exhausted, every punch he threw wasn't just reflex or random, it carried well above all the strength he had and he kept throwing them out. Before Alex finally landed a hit so strong it launched his enemy rather far backwards. He then leapt towards it while the armor leapt towards Alex after reaching the ground from its launch. They initiated an aerial battle by Alexander charging at the armor before blocking a strike that would have crushed him into the floor had he not blocked it and launched them both upwards again before smashing his opponent so hard into the ground they bounced off it. He then grabbed it's arm jumped with it into the air and swung it around, creating enough force to smash it hard enough into the ground to cause it to crack greatly and once more force his opponent to bounce off the hard material of the base.

"Hey scrap face, heard of this move?"

He pulled his fist back before it swelled into twice, perhaps even trice it's original size and became covered in bony armor, and he delivered a punch that could probably shatter the earth itself while screaming at the top of his lungs:

" **HELL'S GUARD: ULTIMATE SMASH!"**

As the punch connected, the entire back of the armoured figure was blown apart before the armor itself was launched upwards towards the high walls of the base, before blasting right through them, then through a few clouds before ending up above the massive battlefield of central Fiore. During this time, the armor had been falling apart and before shattering completely, a thought occurred as it's helm was about to crash into the ground.

" _Impossible."_

 **Battle zone, Central Fiore**

Nero was observing the battle from a heightened position, so far everything was going according to plan, and they were pushing them back while holding their ground. Esmeralda was still engaged in combat with the enemy commanding officer. Ancheindo accompanied him; simply enjoying the small rest he was receiving only to look up in surprise and asked Ancheindo a question.

"Ancheindo, did you happen to see a shooting star in the battle?"

She looked towards him, tilting her head questionably.

"No, why?"

"No matter."

He disregarded the small shimmering object flying and crashing slightly outside the battlefield.

 **Magmos, Droid base**

Several combatants momentarily ceased when they heard the massive crash of the armor getting launched.

"R-Rey, was that someone getting launched out?"

"Y-Yes, how?"

Jack who had just arrived and cut down two droids, decided to answer.

"Alexander fought as all of us, that's how."

Alexander then fell to his knees and started breathing heavily.

It had taken a lot to change his body and appearance so quickly and drastically, but the risk had been worth it considering his opponent had just been defeated.

Samuel's battle was going on neutral grounds; he fought his opponent with his bare hands as she did. Both using their fists and legs to battle the other with Samuel blocking the majority while his opponent nimbly dodged and weaved from any harm, it seemed endless before suddenly the silence between them was broken.

"Remarkable, you truly are as powerful as my Intel unit suggested, perhaps even more."

Samuel responded nearly immediately.

"Your fighting poise and style are perfected through rigorous training, it seems you have fought many a battle, however by the lack of minor swings when you strike shows that you have never fought anyone head on."

"You assume correctly, I have simulated every combat scenario your guild has ever initiated. Every move. Every attack. Every weakness. I have a strategy for everything you can do and I have my own tricks."

As if on que a pair of large blades extended from her arms.

"Adamantine reinforced, you cannot break them."

She charged ahead with her blades held in a way that would impale Samuel, but he managed to redirect her with his sword.

"If the weapon cannot be broken, go for its source!"

And so Samuel charged with his blade at the ready, his opponent standing ready for him. He swung his blade which was easily blocked and broken by the superior blades his enemy possessed, what Mistress had not counted on was the pommel striking her from being thrown. While she was reeling from the blow, Samuel charged ahead and grabbed her arms, before putting his foot on her chest and pulling her arms while unleashing an amazingly powerful roar.

All the while his enemy was against this with an alarmed voice.

"What are you doing? No! Cease this! They cannot handle this pressure. Release me this instant!"

However, her cries fell on deaf ears as Samuel continue pulling, hearing the strain of metal before ripping her arms clean off, they were pulled right out of their sockets. Before he threw them both away towards his sides.

He then stood straight and looked upon her with his mighty stature towering over her.

"You have been disarmed."

All actions stopped in the room, droids stopped marching, soldiers stopped fighting. Hell, even the bullets seemed to stop flying. Everybody was staring at Samuel.

"You may be far from harmless, but you are at least armless."

The silence was continuous.

"Even though you are my enemy, I feel I should give you a hand."

The silence was broken by a small sound.

The sound of laughter, and slight snorting.

Everyone was looking around, trying to locate the source as it grew louder. Soon they all saw where it came from.

Mistress was on the floor laughing.

She had o arms and she was rolling back and forth laughing so hard many thought she would pass out. Several soldiers and droids walked up to her just to make sure she was actually laughing.

Samuel removed his helmet, before helping her up and removing her helmet.

As he did, his allies were stunned.

Whatever they had expected her to look like was nothing like this, her face looked so pure and untouched by war or strife. Her hair was long, black and held up nicely in neat a little bun in order to not disturb her when she was using her armor or working. Her eyes however caught everyone's attention due to her unusual violet colour. They were beautiful and full of intelligence, at least they would have been had she not been laughing so hard.

"Do you yield?"

"I- I yield, Phew."

Everyone was dumbstruck.

"D-Did we just win the war?"

Raina stood there dumbfounded.

"We won a war, by dad jokes?!"

Jacob was angry and confused at the same time.

"Hm, even I can't figure this one out."

Jack answered.

"All units, initiate code black, shut down protocol engaged. All forces return to deployment zones and deactivate. Repeat: order 76 has been called into action all units return and deactivate."

"Roger, roger."

And so, all Clankers, Rollers and Supers moved back into the holes in the walls. Some were half busted and returned even then.

"Excuse me."

Three Clankers walked past Hell's guard while pulling several busted droid parts and other things.

"So, let's review my surrender conditions shall we?"

 **Battle zone, Central Fiore**

The situation had changed rapidly, several previously hidden Rollers had appeared alongside several anti-infantry armed Commandroids. They were losing. Esmeralda was locked in combat with the enemy commander, both having an amazing showmanship of the way of the blade. Their fight was, however, interrupted by a rapid beeping. As soon as it was heard the droid general jumped back and put his fingers where his ear would have been had he had any.

He gave a nod as the message he seemingly received ended. He simply raised his arm and held his hand open like a gesture of stop.

"All units, code black is in effect. Retreat to the base and prime the deactivation codes."

All around them, droids were falling back, grabbing any damaged or destroyed brethren and then simply leaving towards whence they came.

The commander stood last, but before he left he turned towards Esmeralda.

"You are the greatest warrior I have encountered, it was… Fun while our battle lasted. Female."

"My name is Esmeralda Steele, may I ask what is yours?"

"My designation is: General Kalani."

She nodded at him.

"Until we meet again, Kalani."

He replicated her nod before walking of and replying.

"Indeed, Steele."

And so the commander walked off with his troopers.

A large cheer was heard across the battle line, they had won. Everyone was celebrating only slightly due to there still being work to do, but for now peace and order had returned to Fiore.

 **Several days after the Droid wars**

During the time after the battles were over, commander Nero was tasked with salvaging anything worthwhile from all areas, including the now shut down droid base. Several weapons and blueprints were brought back. Along with six damaged Commandroids. During this time he also made sure to parade his men around villages and towns to increase morale and show that the council's forces would trump any evil (even though it was mercenaries doing most of it).

At Hell's guard they were deciding what to do with their prisoner.

"I say we shoot her in the head, quick, compassionate and easy. I even have a bullet lined up now."

This was met with several murmurs of agreement

"Screw that, let's blow her up! I lost my best friend in an explosion because of her! So make her pay!"

This was met with approving nods and shouts.

"Burn her alive!"

"YEAH!"

"Crush her!"

"YEAH!"

"Rip her in half!"

" **YEAH!"**

"Or, you could listen to your leader before he decides TO EXECUTE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FOR INSUBORDINATION!"

This silenced the masses as their boss spoke up.

Samuel strode up next to their new prisoner upon the stage, she was bound with several chains and locks, and she was still lacking arms, literally.

"Prisoner, state your name."

She looked out to the crowd with a bored expression.

"Sivanna Metrac."

This caused several gasps in the audience, including several swears.

All eyes were now on Alexander as he walked towards Sivanna.

"Who are you?"

He had an incredibly confused facial expression, yet it looked as if he remembered her somewhat albeit very faintly. His eyes kept changing colour, as if trying to find a specific one.

"17 years ago, the explosion that ruined our home. You struck a wall and fell to the floor unconscious. My arms were ripped off in the ensuing explosion yet I managed to survive. I spent months on the streets asking for help from all the people I could find yet I was shunned, despised and looked down upon for my deformities. Even the rune knights ignored my pleas for assistance. Soon I discovered an affinity for construction and rebuilt my arms. Yet even then I was refused assistance in finding my family. So I plotted to rid this land of the current corrupt leadership by force. I became a machine, unfeeling, cold and calculating to do this. Yet here you all came and reminded me of my obvious humanity through your feelings and bonds with eachother. It worked especially well when Samuel took the roll of a father, seeing as I've never had on. Choose a punishment so that I may repent the damage I have caused you all."

This caused some guilt to flow over everyone present, while some changed opinion others still wanted her punished fiercely.

Alexander walked right up to her, held her chin and requested one thing from her.

"Look into my eyes."

She did as she was asked and looked at his eyes, as he stared his eyes widened in recognition as they changed colour into a more turquoise shade as he uttered a single word.

"Siva."

 **Many years ago, Fiore**

A young boy was sitting at a park bench with several bruises on his face and some blood dripping from his mouth. He couldn't have been more than 12. He looked rather upset and was wearing a black hoodie, a pair of darkened ripped jeans and a pair of black sneakers. All of his clothing was covered in dirt and grass for some reason; it was rather clear this young man had recently been in a fight.

His sour facial expression turned into one of surprise as he heard a voice call out to him.

"ALLIE!"

He turned and saw a young girl running towards him with a small box with a first aid, she couldn't have been more than eight and was already a master of the: "What were you thinking stare", as she was heading towards him.

She was wearing a nice pink dress with a pair of cute matching shoes; she had black hair in a ponytail and beautiful violet eyes. She walked up to him and pouted.

"Allie! I knew it! You fought again! Why do you always fight with the other kids?"

His surprised look turned into a frown as he recollected what had happened.

"They were making fun of aunt Hilda because she lives alone. They insulted me for not having parents and they called your eyes ugly because they were a different colour from the other girls inn town!"

He had small tears forming in his eyes before a small handkerchief dried the tears.

"I know you really love our family, but it is no reason to beat people up. Especially if they are older and there are more of them than you."

"I still punched them so hard they ran crying to their moms."

The little girl giggled.

"Really? You beat up the older boys and made them cry?"

He gave a small grin.

"You betcha!"

"Wow, you think you can teach me to beat up mean people?"

She asked in a cute and shy voice.

He started to laugh a little at her request.

"Siva, as long as I'm here you won't need to fight anybody! If anyone is mean to ya I'll beat 'em to the moon and back!"

She stared at him in wonder.

"Promise?"

He looked down at her with a confident smile.

"Scouts' honour!"

She smiled but then adopted a serious expression.

"We're gonna have to take care of those bruises or mom's gonna get worried."

He shuddered at the thought.

"Auntie Hilda goes from worried to warring very fast. Ok 'cous, I'm ready."

Before they started however, the girl gave the boy a small peck on his cheek.

"Love you Allie."

He smiled back at her.

"Love you too Siva."

Siva gave a bright smile before applying Band-Aids and using cooling packs to make the swelling go down.

The two cousins truly had a wonderful relation.

 **Present time, Hell's Guard**

Before anyone could react, he embraced her with a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry…"

Sivanna, unused to this action was shocked at first. But soon smiled slightly and accepted the affection.

"It is not your fault, Allie. You were just a boy back then and we were separated by actions beyond our control. You were hurt and mother was missing. We were both left alone and forced to survive. It was neither of our faults; a dark guild operating nearby was never the concern of two children. But the concern of the incompetent council that allowed their existance."

Samuel clearing his throat interrupted their tender reunion.

"While I love family reunions, trust me I do, we still need to give her a sentence."

Everyone was tensed up this was the moment, Life or death.

"I do not sentence her to death."

This caused several groans of dissatisfaction and anger. With sighs of relief from some of them.

"However letting her go scot-free is out of the question."

Relief turned into anxiety in a heartbeat.

"I hereby sentence Sivanna Metrac to: Rathuum!"

Everybody in the room, including the prosecuted was confused by this new word.

However, Jack, Esmeralda and Jacob all had faces of shock, surprise and fear.

"Uh, pops. What is Rathuum?"

"Yeah, is it some kind of community service?"

Jacob turned towards the children with a serious expression, very uncommon for him.

"Rathuum is a fight to the end. The prosecuted is to fight their executioners. If they are victorious, they will live. And if they lose, well the executioners will have a field day. Worst part is that they have to fight in their current state. So there is no time to resupply; however they may have a second as assistance but only if the second volunteer to it."

Now everybody had quite a surprised face, some had a gleeful one while others a horrified one. Say what you want about Samuel, he's firm but fair. But this seems a little too brutal, even for a criminal.

"Who is to be the executioners?"

Immediately several hands went up.

"Alright, Akiba and Revenant are the executioners."

This caused several cheers around the room.

"Sivanna, do you have a second?"

Alexander decided to stand up in front of her.

"She does indeed."

Samuel merely nodded.

"In an hour we meet in the training room for Rathuum. Do not be late."

 **Hell's Guard, Training hall. One hour later**

Everyone had gathered outside the training area in the observation stands, only five individuals were within the training area; the executioners, the prosecuted, her second and Samuel himself.

Sivanna had no arms, Alexander still had quite a wound by his lower abdomen and Ilyana was still very exhausted and had several minor wounds around her body.

The only one who seemed to be in good health was Johnny.

"Rules are simple, fight until the others cannot. The winner chooses the fate of the loser. Executioners win and the prosecuted die by their choosing. Prosecuted wins and they have their freedom and a choice of what to do."

Everyone nodded and stood at the ready.

"Commence!"

And so the trial by combat started.

Alexander immediately stood in front of his cousin.

"Siva, get behind me."

She looked at him as he looked back at her and gave a smile.

"To the moon and back, right?"

"To the moon and back."

He answered.

And so it began.

Ilyana charged at Alexander, her machete brought up. She didn't want to kill him, but she knew it would slow him down.

He grabbed it with a clawed hand and bent it backwards while staring her down.

"Why would you go so far for someone who hurt you so badly?"

She was beginning to push the blade down at him.

He merely stared back and pushed against.

"You of all people should know, for family no price is too high!"

Their struggle ended as both pushed eachother backwards.

"I won't stop until I've avenged Delta force."

"And I won't let you hurt my family."

They both smirked and at the same time uttered a single phrase before combating eachother once more.

"So be it."

 _Meanwhile with Johnny and Sivanna_

It was a hard fought battle for Sivanna; due to her lacking both of her arms while Johnny had his own armed with his classic knives. She dodged and weaved past his slices and stabs. It was exhausting but effective as Johnny was fighting with emotion and not tactics; this made him vulnerable and easy to take down.

"If it wasn't for you Buzz would still be here! If it weren't for you we'd still be a family! If it wasn't for you I'd still have one of my best friends!"

Another swipe, another dodge.

"If it is any consolation, I fail to remember such an insignificant person."

This caused an uproar of boos and shocked gasps within the audience.

At the same time it caused Johnny to snap and charge at her without thinking, poor move.

She easily dodged his attack and swiped his legs out from under him before pinning him down with her foot on his throat.

"I win, child."

And with that she kicked him in the temple and knocked him out.

She looked towards her cousin's battle and saw they were in a standstill with a grappling competition. Ilyana getting knocked out though a dropkick from behind soon broke it.

"The winners are the prosecuted and the second."

This announcement was followed by several loud boos and complaints, but were ignored by the calm Sivanna and the happy Alexander.

Soon afterwards Samuel re-entered the ring to congratulate the victors.

"You have claimed glory and honour in the way of Rathuum, what do you wish to do now prosecuted?"

She looked at Samuel while thinking.

"I wish to remain under your supervision, as seeking another base would be pointless and joining the council would be out of the question. So serving under you would be the most profitable solution."

This was met with silence, before everyone started shouting profanities and refusals.

"No fucking way!"

"This bitch ain't joining us!"

"Kill the whore!"

"Send her out in a box!"

"She killed our comrades! How the fuck can we just allow her to live?!"

"Let's kill heARGH!"

Suddenly everyone who was shouting and screaming were silenced by a strangling sensation.

In the centre of the stadium Samuel had his hand in a claw grip while his eyes burned with anger.

"You DARE dishonour the traditions of Rathuum?! I should kill all of you!"

This caused several of the, uh, breathless members to shake their heads while several pleaded for mercy.

"Rathuum is not to be trifled with. Any further insubordination will be punished. Do you understand? DO YOU?!"

As the death grip lessened all of them nodded and saluted their leader's effective ways while Jack, Jacob and Esmeralda merely released a breath they didn't realize they were holding. Samuel always was a fan of honour and tradition, so to mess with it was not the smartest decision.

"You will be kept under probation. Make no mistake; while I may just have saved you from the anger of my soldiers I will not tolerate any harm or ill will towards them. Any hostility towards them and you will be executed without mercy; the same goes for anyone looking to harm our new member. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded and responded with: "Yes sir!"

"Here, consider yourself a member of Hell's Guard, Sivanna."

She was presented with the arms she thought were destroyed after Samuel had removed them.

"Thank you, master. This will increase my efficiency by 100 %."

Her arms suddenly came to life and reattached themselves with several whirring noises and soon she was armed once more. Her blades extended and retracted several times, and her hands and arms spun 360° before she gave a content nod and made her way towards the main area.

Samuel was soon approached by several of his comrades, all bearing a concerned face, save for one.

"Samuel, are you sure we should trust her. I mean she did try to wipe us out. And I'm pretty sure she is planning something evil. Isn't that right Zhuue?"

Zhuue nodded at Jack's statement and made a very convincing "evil face" with sharp teeth and all.

"I agree with Jackie here, just give me the go ahead and I'll take her out! I'll even give you partial cred for the kill!"

Esmeralda slapped him on the back before she started speaking.

"I think what Jacob means is how can you be so sure she'll behave? She might be planning to sabotage our base and destroy us! Can we really take that risk?"

"Gotta agree with mama on this one dad, she can kill at least everyone of us one on one. So we should keep her under close watch, right Rey?"

"…"

"Rey?"

"She's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

The others stared at Rey as he was spacing out, the shadow behind him shaped like a heart.

"Aside from Rey's obvious hormones, she is a credible threat. I lost one of my squad members to her army and I refuse to lose more to that metal armed whore."

"Yeah! We lost Buzz because of her! She even had the gall to insult his memory in front of me during the battle!"

"Commander Steel, while we do not presume to know your planning, it is my concern that we isolate Sivanna from the rest of the guild due to increased hostility from their side."

"Indeed, however I feel that at the same time we should keep her around as to improve relations and not give a sense of Xenophobia from the guild. I for one know how it feels to be despised for something dreadful."

As the twins finished their input Samuel finally spoke.

"Your concerns are well place, but ultimately unnecessary. She has nowhere else to go, she even recounted that it would be pointless to build a new base and that the council would rather have her dead, so that leaves our guild. And the reason we do not kill her is due to the tactical prowess she possesses, she calculated our movements and predicted most of our attack routes. Almost as good, if not better than our resident soothsayer, no offense Ancheindo."

She simply smiled.

"None taken."

"She even employed basic tactics while unarmed in the arena, she used an easy way to aggravate Johnny before defeating him in his imbalanced mode before using surprise to defeat Ilyana. Such skill would be wasted upon death, so I prefer to use her to her full extent."

This seemed to put everyone at ease, except for one.

"So you're saying, in a fair fight, and I was aware of her, I would win."

Samuel sighed before replying.

"Yes Ilyana you would win."

She smiled, her previous anger forgotten.

"Ok. I'm good."

Everyone then returned towards their positions while Samuel prepared for a meeting with several councillors and Commander (now Colonel) Nero in order to discuss what

 **Undisclosed Meeting place**

Samuel arrived at the location that had been chosen for the meeting. Already there was Colonel Nero, Councillor Vay Hek, Councillor Nef Anyo (and his nephew Sergeant Nerf Anyo), Councillor Sheev and Councillor Alad V. The other councillors were either busy with meetings, paperwork or summoned by the king himself. So these were the only people that were able to congratulate Samuel and his troops on a job well done.

"Samuel, in two years you have turned my troops into elite fighters, ended a war that would have exterminated us, made the country respect the army more, given us weapons and magic that will secure a better future and created your own guild capable of amazing feats on it's own. Amazing old friend, simply amazing."

"SAMUEL! You have done things that should be IMPOSSIBLE! You even rid me of my son TENNO! For this you shall be rewarded! STRENGTH FROM THE GRINEER! That is to say my PERSONAL armoury!"

"Truly you have been a blessing sent from the void! Your actions have lead to so many prices being obtained that I should reward you; consider this a blessing of the void. You will receive a detachment of my personal guard to keep as your own. And remember, give unto the void!"

"Yes, yes. Very interesting. Now Samuel! Thankfully through the salvage retrieved from the enemy base we have managed to make massive profits! All thanks to you! While giving you profits would be, ah, easy I do not prefer to lose profit. So Instead I will, ah, give you one favour to call in when you need it, however I cannot give any profit away."

Samuel nodded at this, before removing his helmet and revealing his smile.

"Gentlemen, while I appreciate these rewards I would prefer if we came to a… Shall we say secret agreement?"

Everyone in the room looked around for any signs of intrusion or surveillance, before nodding at Samuel.

"Allow me to explain protocol 66."

As he explained, the occupants of the room started smiling sinisterly for the future of Fiore.

"Quite devious indeed Samuel. Well done my boy."

"Thank you councillor Sheev. Now I must be off, I'm quite sure that there is calm and quiet awaiting me at home. I mean there isn't enough time for them to do anything stupid right?"

This was followed by good natured laughter from the men in the room as each said their goodbyes to Samuel.

 **Hell's Guard, five minutes later**

Five minutes.

It all happened in five minutes.

Samuel had made it back in five minutes after the meeting, and the guards outside of the guild had indeed confirmed it had taken five minutes.

Five minutes for what?

Five minutes for the guild to be engulfed in an idiotic and non-lethal civil war.

On one side were the men fighting and on the other the women.

Why were they fighting?

Apparently the idiots had decided to fight about who was better, boys or girls. Some moron had stated one was better than the other and suddenly the whole guild was up in arms.

The few exceptions being Brad and Sivanna.

They fought with fake weaponry used for practice battles, and for some reason food.

This was proven by the fact that a pie struck Samuel's face.

The battle stopped abruptly.

Everyone was staring in shock and silence, what was surprising was that both Jack and Esmeralda were taking part in the battle. Everyone suddenly yelled out: **"THEY STARTED IT!"**

Samuel merely wiped the pie off his face, before uh, giving a reasonable response?

"Camo training. Outside. No magic. Weapons. Armor. Or clothes with a paintball sniper. Now."

Everyone remained frozen.

" **NOW!"**

And so they all rushed outside while removing their equipment.

He turned towards Sivanna and Brad having a civil conversation.

"So you see I have no ill will towards you or any of your allies, and I apologize for any losses you suffered during the war."

Brad listened while occasionally nodding.

"I hold no direct ill will towards you, I understand that with war comes casualties however I still cared for Buzzard so you will need to prove yourself. He was very close with my squad mates, so their forgiveness will be much harder to obtain."

She nodded.

"I understand, worry not. Patience is a virtue I have obtained easily, I waited several years to commence my war after all."

Both gave a nod and started shaking hands as a sign of compliance and respect.

Just then, Zhuue walked in wearing nothing but her birthday suit. Looking rather tired and frozen but all in all VERY healthy. **Ahem**

Sivanna noticed her and walked towards her with a neutral facial expression.

"You must be Zhuue, I would like to profusely for the loss of your voice. I hired the mercenary to incapacitate you, yet he failed to do so. I hope we can start over and attempt to be allies."

As she said this she reached her hand forward to shake Zhuue's hand.

Zhuue saw this and instead reached out with her left hand.

Sivanna mirrored this expression, before having her left arm ripped off and got slapped with it twice before she shook her right hand.

Sivanna accepted this punishment and reattached her arm, before noticing Zhuue was still shivering from the cold. Using logic she deduced what to do.

In a few seconds a nude Sivanna was standing next to Zhuue and embracing her, Zhuue was blushing up a storm, Brad raised an eyebrow and Samuel attempted to stop (and failed) chuckling.

"Body heat is the most efficient way to warm someone up, seeing as no other clothes are available and you are freezing, this is the most logical conclusion."

Soon enough, Rey walked in and saw the two nude women embracing, before going pale, due to the fact that a mass of blood had been drained through his nose. His "long sword" obviously approved.

"I must admit you have a very attractive body type, are you perhaps bisexual by any chance?"

And that caused young Rey to faint with a loud thudding sound.

The two women looked towards the thud.

While Zhuue silently screamed, covered herself up and ran towards her room, now much warmer than before, Sivanna merely looked at Rey and then at Samuel.

"Bring him to his room."

"Yes sir."

As Sivanna dragged Rey by his leg to his room, Samuel merely let out a tired sigh as he sat down at a table with a drink appearing seemingly out of nowhere in his hand.

As he sat there, he began wondering if what he had done, what he was doing, was really worth it.

"Oh, Rey you are awake."

" **HNNGUGH!"**

"…Apparently not."

Samuel began to chuckle, before he started to giggle, before full on laughing.

"Yeah, definitely worth it."

As he stood, he fetched the rest of the clothes for everyone that was still out in the snow, while it was amusing, another scene like this would most likely end far worse than the previous one.

As he walked back towards his room he began to think back to a less fortunate time.

 **Fiore, many years ago**

"Fall back!"

"There's too many of them!"

"Stop them. NOW!"

"Where are the rest of them?"

"Nero, get moving."

"Emma, you are not going back out there!"

"My life. For honour."

"There was only one guild."

"Your inability to safeguard them was a colossal failure."

"If they came to hear me beg, they will be disappointed."

 **Present, Hell's Guard**

Samuel shook his head as he had arrived at his room; he opened the door and entered silently, removed his armor, turned of any lights and crawled into his bed wearing only a pair of boxers. As he felt sleep begin to tug on his consciousness he felt a presence near the doorway.

Out of habit, he reached under his pillow where a dagger was kept, before he noticed the familiar electricity in the air.

He immediately relaxed and attempted to fall back asleep

"Dad?"

"…"

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Dad I can't sleep."

"Why?"

"Well since all these fights and wars I have been forced to sleep alone several times and I always woke up in a panic since Rey wasn't there and I was scared until I saw him but now I'm afraid he won't be there when I wake up and-"

She was almost hyperventilating now; Samuel knew what had to be done.

"Shh. Come on."

She was immediately lifted by the now standing Samuel before put her to bed, kissing her forehead and sat by her bedside.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks dad."

He smiled at his daughter as she closed her eyes and began trying to sleep.

Almost immediately the door opened softly and Rey entered with a confused expression, before he saw his sister sleeping and gained one of understanding.

"Uh, pops?"

"Hm?"

"Mind if I?"

"Go ahead."

And so, Rey entered the bed alongside his sister, as they lay there Raina grabbed her brother into a warm and comfortable hug, as Samuel moved to find another place to sleep he heard:

"Dad, can you read us a story?"

They couldn't see the wide smile he had with his back turned towards them.

"Aren't you kids too old for bedtime stories?"

"C'mon pops, please."

Samuel sighed still smiling; he shook his head and turned towards them.

"Alright then."

He sat at the bedside and seemed to think about what to tell them.

"Ah, let me tell you the tale of: Davian Thule."

And so his children slept as he spoke of the legendary warrior of times past.

 **A/N:** And another one down! Felt pretty good with this, and I bet you didn't expect such an end to a long and bloody war! Now, this will be the last chapter in a while due to me going on a vacation soon and I will be unable to bring my computer or Internet connection. So things will go a little slow. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and heads up, following chapters will increase idiocy and decrease brutality. However pain will still be a factor. Review, follow, favourite and send a PM! Looking forward to a good read.

Ciao!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: "I love remembering!"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"Zaeed Massani"

"Vido."

"Oh, right."

"COME HERE!"

"WATCH THE BIRDY!"

"I sentence you to Rathuum."

"Are you perhaps Bisexual?"

 **Fiore, Caverns of Remembrance**

It had been a while since Hell's Guard's final battle against Sivanna. And since then they had gotten more or less used to her and her… Unique ways of life, so Samuel decided they took a little nice outing to a place he kept to himself.

"Alright squads, this cavern contains many crystals capable of showing any memory you have ever experienced precisely as it was. All you need to do is pump 'em with a bit of magic and here you have it, you can all bring home one since now you can head here on your own, do you have any questions?"

Johnny raised his hand.

"Yes Johnny?"

"When you say, "any memory."

"I mean ANY memory. Now off you go!"

And so, every member of Hell's Guard went off to find a memory crystal they could bring.

Nero had come along for a much-needed vacation and knew the trick to finding the right crystal, was gut feeling. Unfortunately that was bullshit, so he was going to have to guess like everyone else.

 **With Dark Horse squad**

The little squadron of friends were looking around for some of the smaller crystals they could bring with them, not really caring much for exactly what memory they would bring with them.

After searching around the caverns for quite some time, Brad managed to locate several hanging from the ceiling. They were swiftly released by expert throws from Johnny and were received by Cham's swift reflexes.

The first to activate their crystal was Brad. As he pumped in some magic into the crystal, he began having a vision of a memory.

 _ **A long time ago**_

 _ **A room covered entirely in darkness, the only thing of note in there being Brad. In one hand his favourite pistol, and in the other a sword. Suddenly a noise was heard, and Brad reacted accordingly and blocked a strike with the blade before retaliating with his gun. Soon enough two similar noises were heard, however this time Brad bent backwards while swinging his blade in a wide arc, forcing his attackers to jump back. Simultaneously however, he fired his gun twice while sweeping. As soon as he rose back up, he heard a voice command: Stop.**_

 _ **And so the room was filled with light, and showed the three attackers with all of them having a paintball mark somewhere "fatal" from Brad's expert shooting.**_

" _ **Well done my boy, truly you shall become one of our finest."**_

 _ **A voice said from the shadows.**_

 _ **Brad smiled earnestly at this praise.**_

" _ **Thank you sir, I will not disappoint."**_

As the vision faded, Brad couldn't help but smile at this memory. It was of his training before he became as skilled as he was today, and even back then he was damn good. As he was busy feeling happy, Cham went next with his crystal.

 **Several months back**

 _ **He was simply sitting in their shared barracks alongside Buzz. Before Buzz suddenly spoke.**_

" _ **Hey bro, you got any light?" he said as he tinkered with a small explosive.**_

 _ **Cham answered.**_

" _ **Bro you are my light."**_

 _ **Buzz clutched his heart and let a manly tear fall. Just one, as he softly whispered: "Bro."**_

As the vision ended, Cham let a single manly tear of happiness fall, as he then spoke in a happy and tired tone.

"Bro…"

Next however, they were met with a snag. Johnny didn't have any magic so he couldn't charge the crystal. He still smiled and told them his squad mates that they had given him all the memories he could ever wish for. However, Brad would not have it.

"Place your hand on mine."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Johnny did as ordered and placed his hand atop Brad's, while Cham did the same and placed his hand atop Johnny's. Soon enough, the two mages started focusing their magic into their palms, and attempting to get it into the crystal. They somehow succeeded and allowed all three of them to view a memory.

 _ **A few weeks back**_

 _ **It was a massive battlefield, from not too long ago. All around their allies were fighting hard and well, Rey and Raina were chopping anything close into pieces, Jack, Zhuue and Ancheindo were assisting any wounded allies, all the while getting cover fire from Jacob and Ilyana. Both whom were making fun of Sensō for being such a small child in a massive fight with a bow instead of a real gun. He was still enjoying showing them up with his amazing marksmanship and magical power. During this time Krytus was teleporting around the battlefield slicing at his opponents' weak points, only for them to be steamrolled by his twin sister and her rage fuelled "general form", and the poor saps that weren't engaged by the previously mentioned merc were battling Alex, who was literally ripping them apart and Sivanna who was slamming and breaking her enemies into the ground with unrelenting efficiency.**_

 _ **Finally, engaging a massive beast was Dark Horse and his squad. They were doing magnificently, Brad's pinpoint accuracy made vision nearly impossible to the massive green creature while he was hitting several other areas that were crucial for the beast's success. Cham was making use of his abilities as a scout to point out critical points that were struck expertly by his leader, while he fired his rifle into the thing's leg to bring it closer to it's imminent demise. Finally, Johnny was granted the opportunity to give the finishing blow, as the beast howled its war cry. He managed to shove an exploding knife into its jaw, which cause it's head to explode.  
"WAAAG-"**_

" _ **Eat up fatty!"**_

 _ **The explosion knocked the boy down onto the ground covered in green and red liquids, sitting completely still in shock.**_

 _ **The battle had ended after the big guy got wasted, his allies ran for the hills and Hell's Guard gathered around Johnny who was still sitting in the gooey mix, all was quiet.**_

 _ **Until the silence was broken by laughter, Brad was laughing at how ridiculous it looked with a goo pile that had a large pair of eyes, soon enough Johnny joined the laughter, and then Cham, and then the rest of the guild started laughing. Save for Sivanna, she didn't get it.**_

" _ **I love you guys!"**_

 _ **Johnny exclaimed as he was pulled to his feet and carried back towards the base for earning: "Play of the Game!" by killing the large beast.**_

As the vision ended, all three of them were smiling while Johnny put the crystal in one of his pockets as they all left for home. Happy with the little mementos they had earned.

 **With the Medical Support squad**

"And that is why I am banned from any cemetery in Fiore unless I am to be buried."

Zhuue nodded at this while having a curious facial expression, Ancheindo however needed to ask a question.

"But how did you come to acquire a 50. Calibre machine gun and a steamroller inside of the cemetery?"

Jack merely gave her a cocky grin, not that she would notice anyway.

"I know a guy!"

 **Meanwhile. In central Fiore.**

A man in a rather exotic shop sneezed as he was doing inventory on a massive multitude of wares.

As he wiped his nose with a handkerchief, he spoke to no one in particular.

"I feel as if my skills are being used in an amusing story starring impossible odds…. Nah, probably just my imagination. Now, where did I put those draconic testicles?"

And so he returned to his business, only slightly delayed by this distraction.

 **Back in the caverns**

The three then found themselves in an area full of different minerals providing natural light; it was quite a beautiful sight to be sure. Soon enough, Jack managed to find a trio of crystals on the ceiling.

"Zhuue, could you be a dear?"

She smiled and nodded at him and used her spear to grasp the crystals with the ornate edges on her weapon, and people told her it was impractical. HAH! As they were pulled down, Jack noticed they were all of varying sizes. One was slightly larger than normal, one was slightly smaller and the final one was regular sized. The largest went to Jack as he had found them, Zhuue took the smallest since she found it cute, and Ancheindo didn't really are so she simply received the regular one.

They all simultaneously poured their magic into the crystals and had their memories relived.

First off was Ancheindo.

 _ **Many years ago**_

 _ **A young Ancheindo was sitting in a rather lavishly decorated room, it had some fine carpets, curtains and some rather beautiful furniture. Sitting on two chairs was an older woman watching the young girl sitting right next to her. Young Ancheindo was playing the cello in front o her teacher; she was quite skilled for being so young. However, soon something strange occurred. She suddenly had a vision of her father coming in with a pipe, and asking how the lessons were proceeding before tripping slightly and dropping the pipe so that it would fly and hit the teacher in the face leading to an apology. As soon as her father entered and tripped as was foreseen Ancheindo rose from her seat and grabbed the pipe. She turned towards her father and said: "Father, get mother. I have something to tell you." Sufficed to say, her parents were elated to hear their daughter had such a gift. "You are gonna do great things, Ancheindo." They had told her.**_

As the vision ended, she gave a tired sigh. While this was indeed a happy memory, she realized she would probably never be able to live like this ever again. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder and realized it was Zhuue, she didn't see it but somehow she knew that Zhuue had a concerned facial expression. She merely smiled and patted Zhuue's hand with her own.

"I'm alright Zhuue, it was just a rather…. Emotional memory."

She then felt herself get embraced by Zhuue, it was a surprise at first but soon she accepted and returned it in full. Soon enough, she felt additional pressure around herself from behind. Jack had decided to join in.

"What, I enjoy hugs?"

The three soon split from their embrace as Zhuue charged her crystal.

 _ **Several years back**_

 _ **Zhuue was standing in a very open field harvesting crops, and she couldn't be happier. Her mother said that this was the best harvest they've had in months! With this many high quality vegetables they'd be able to buy more land, more seeds for planting and maybe even those fancy new scythes, hoes and pitchforks she's been eyeing. As she continued to work hard, she noticed her mother was out by some of the trees, she had to admit she was happy to have received her mother's genes rather than her late father's. Her mother had gorgeous emerald eyes, smooth and beautiful raven coloured hair, average and quite enjoyable to watch curves and toned, muscular arms from working hard in the fields. She was wearing a lightish blue shirt with dark blue overalls and a pair of black boots. As she looked closer it seemed her mother was having a happy discussion with a man in dark clothes, a large and thick collar of his coat alongside a hat that obstructed his face. Her mother seemed delighted to speak to the man for some reason, she had a wide smile on her face as she listened and occasionally spoke. Soon however she heard noises from behind her, as she turned she saw a few individuals clothed in dark leathery clothes with hoods and cowls covering their faces. They were all wielding small weapons such as daggers and knives and were walking rather menacingly towards her. She was, of course, shocked at first, but soon gave a wry smile as she readied herself for (sorry about this) a "hoe-down". She brought up the hoe she was going to use to shape the fields, in order to shape some asses into her choice of object. As her new enemies advanced on her, she began spinning her impromptu weapon around before engaging her foes. Zhuue displayed surprising competence with her weapon as she swatted away weapons and struck her enemies rather brutally with the farming tool; she dodged just barely several times only to retaliate with a brutal strike to her enemies. This continued on for a few minutes until she found herself between two of the masked strangers and blocked their blades with the gardening tool, the tool was however worse for wear and would break at any moment, so Zhuue did something… Radical. She did a split while holding the weapon upwards with her hands, it blocked the blades a last time before splitting in two, and she used the momentum of her hands to strike her assailants right in the family jewels. Both gave a silent and very high-pitched scream before falling down on the ground, unconscious. As Zhuue rose with a slight smile, she heard clapping coming from behind her, as she tuned around she saw her mother looking giddy over something. Standing next to her was the mysterious man giving her applause with less vigour than her mother, as he removed his clothes they showed a man with black back slicked hair, a pair of glasses, a smile, a doctor's coat with black pants and matching shoes he also had the insignia of the Rune Knights on his right shoulder.**_

 _ **He then spoke to her in a happy tone.**_

" _ **You must be Zhuue, right?"**_

 _ **Zhuue nodded.**_

" _ **I am Jack Cobar, medical officer of the Steele Division of the Rune Knights. And I am here to offer you a place as my assistant/bodyguard. What do you say?"**_

 _ **Zhuue was silent as she thought about these surprising news, she decided to gather some more info about this.**_

" _ **Why?"**_

" _ **Oh, well while hanging around in a bar we heard rumours of a young woman beating the crap out of tons of dark guild members that were attempting to force a good price for wares or usage as a hideout. So I came here to confirm the suspicions with my underlings. And from the look of it, the rumours were completely true."**_

 _ **As he said this he gestured to the men and women on the ground that gave a thumbs up while still moaning in pain, at least the ones who weren't unconscious.**_

 _ **Zhuue sweat dropped slightly at the news that they weren't really assholes.**_

" _ **Sorry!"**_

 _ **Jack chuckled slightly before reaching out his hand.**_

" _ **Of course, you would be able to visit your mother whenever you'd need to. And I will cover your living expenses due to you being practically my bodyguard. But you will also receive salary that you can perhaps send to your mother here, what do you say?"**_

 _ **This visibly surprised Zhuue, she turned to her mother to get her opinion on the matter. As she did her mother hugged her in a tight embrace.**_

" _ **Mom?"**_

" _ **Honey, no matter what you choose to do, know that I will always be proud of you."**_

 _ **Zhuue felt tears start to flow from her own eyes at this, her mother love her enough to let her go. They stood like this for a while, merely having a tender family moment. While behind them, the people Zhuue had defeated where crying tears of joy (and pain) at this, Jack was wiping his eyes with a small handkerchief. They soon separated and Zhuue dried her tears before saluting Jack with a wide grin.**_

" _ **Private Zhuue Vaclava reporting for duty. Sir!"**_

 _ **Jack shone with glee at this!**_

" _ **Ha ha! Marvellous! Now, mind if we stay for a cup of tea? I need to patch up my underlings before we are off."**_

 _ **Zhuue's mother nodded understandingly.**_

" _ **Of course, this way."**_

 _ **As they walked Zhuue couldn't help but be excited, not only would she be able to help her mother with their finances, she would also become stronger and tougher so that she could beat the crap out of the dark guilds for good!  
Today was a great day!**_

Zhuue came back to the present, with a smile. She really needed to visit her mother again. She would understandably be shocked by the loss of voice but would be proud of how much she had accomplished. With a determined look in her eyes she then turned to Jack and gave him a nod to continue with the crystal.

Following Zhuue's confirmation, Jack charged his magic into the crystal.

 _ **Several years ago**_

 _ **There was a truly massive mansion with a lovely garden located in the vicinity of mountains, it looked remarkably similar to the old Heartfillia mansion with a few changes such as being far more grey and militarized rather than fancy and a large statue of a triangle pointing downwards with the left side missing a small piece in the very centre.**_

 _ **In front of two massive doors stood a pair of misfits, we know them as Samuel Steele and Jack Cobar, They are notably younger than we usually see them, and Jack is fiddling nervously.**_

" _ **We can probably just run off and say we were ambushed and were forced to retreat and couldn't visit today, right?"**_

 _ **Jack said this and gave a quick look to Sam who was giving him a deadpan look.**_

 _ **He then sighed and rung the doorbell.**_

 _ **A man wearing what could best be described as a leather overcoat that had a slightly open collar that showed a white tie and two small emblems similar to the statue outside on the very edge of his coat's collar opened the door. The coat reached down to his knees revealing a pair of finely shined boots and expensive looking black trousers. On his left arm he had a red band with a small icon resembling a black pie chart divided into three equal pieces. He was slim yet projected authority, his appearance made him look as if he was in his early 50s, with his slightly wrinkled, pale complexion and white hair.**_

 _ **He had a bored and disapproving look on his face as he saw Jack.**_

" _ **Ah, it must be Christmas for such a RARE pleasure to appear at my door. Tell me son, were you hoping to claim inheritance now?"**_

 _ **Jack merely looked down and gave a tired sigh.**_

" _ **Hello dad."**_

 _ **The old man's expression changed abruptly as soon as he saw Sam standing next to Jack giving a small wave.**_

" _ **Samuel, my boy! How are you doing?!"**_

 _ **Samuel gave a small smile and shook the man's hand.**_

" _ **Hello Mr. Stahl, I am doing fine."**_

 _ **The old man laughed slightly.**_

" _ **We've talked about this, call me Jorhan! Now come on in! Good to know you had the manners to bring my son with you when visiting."**_

 _ **Jorhan, as we now know him, opened the door wide and ushered the two men inside. As they entered they paid little attention to the grand hall that they walked through and ended up in a rather fancy parlour with leather couches, a fireplace and several well-made portraits of the various family members and other important people.**_

 _ **As they all sat down, a woman entered wearing similar clothes to Jorhan, she was carrying a tray with several teacups and a small container of sugar. Her face was that of an angel, completely faultless and practically shining with youth and motherly care and her hair was an alluring silvery colour similar to Jorhan, yet shining with more happiness and life.**_

" _ **My, my. It is always such a joyful occasion when Jackie decides to visit, and he ever brought Sammy. This really has become a wonderful day. Wouldn't you agree Jorhan?"**_

 _ **He merely grunted slightly.**_

" _ **It would be more "wonderful" if he actually decided to MARRY before we kick the bucket, Janna."**_

 _ **Jack started to sweat slightly.**_

" _ **Well dad that was what I wanted to talk about."**_

" _ **Oh?"**_

 _ **This caught Jorhan's attention.**_

" _ **You see I'm already engaged to someone… And we're planning a marriage."**_

 _ **His mother shone with happiness.**_

" _ **That's wonderful dear! Who is it."**_

 _ **Jack fidgeted slightly.**_

" _ **Look behind you."**_

 _ **His parents turned and saw Samuel, who was inspecting a strange looking dagger in a case named: Nettlebane.**_

 _ **They were completely silent.**_

 _ **Jack was sweating buckets.**_

 _ **Samuel was looking at the dagger.**_

 _ **And suddenly Jorhan spoke.**_

" _ **So you are saying my son, heir to Stahl Arms, is engaged to a MAN, who also happens to be a highly respected colonel of the Rune Knights?"**_

 _ **Samuel finally looked back at them and answered: "Yes."**_

 _ **He wished he hadn't**_

 _ **Staring at him with sparkles in their eyes was Jorhan and Janna Stahl, looking positively elated.**_

" _ **Our son and our favourite guest are marrying!"**_

 _ **Janna gave an impressive squeal.**_

" _ **My boy, you managed to snag the fiercest beast out there! Well-done son! I am so proud of you!"**_

 _ **As he said this, Jorhan had his arm around his son's shoulders as he kept complimenting him.**_

" _ **Er, we're also marrying a woman… For children reasons."**_

 _ **Jack added hastily.**_

 _ **His parents were however too happy to care… And became happier somehow still.**_

" _ **And you are bringing us an Heir! Son I knew you had it in you! As virile as your old man!"**_

 _ **While Jack paled at his father's words, his new mother spoke to Samuel.**_

" _ **AH! Grandchildren with blonde hair! What a blessing!"**_

 _ **As she said this she showed her surprising strength and lifted Samuel like a child and spun him around.**_

 _ **He was simply drinking his tea while thinking: "AAAAAHHH!" with the whole visit starting out as just that. A visit and ending with marriage.**_

 **Finally back in the caverns**

Jack blushed slightly as he put the crystal in the pocket, but he smiled nonetheless. Imagine the guilds reaction if he hadn't changed his last name.

"Come now, we have to rendezvous with the others." As he said this he grabbed Ancheindo's hand and decided to lead her onwards while Zhuue walked ahead.

 **With the irresponsible younglings**

"…And so I killed and ate him."

Rey sighed.

"Yes Alex I know, all your stories go like that.

"Come on Rey, let the man speak. Or would you rather tell us of one of your failed flirting attempts?"

Sensō countered.

Raina just started laughing loudly while slapping Rey on his back.

Sivanna meanwhile was just walking ahead wearing what seemed to be a white t-shirt, black jeans and a pair of black boots. She also seemed to wear a small backpack that looked like it was divided into six pockets, to upwards, two in the middle and two downwards.

"This reminds me of the time I walked alongside a battalion of my B1 units."

Everyone was quiet and looked at her.

"I am surrounded by complaining and the wining little children that do not know when to be quiet without someone berating them."

Everyone was quiet until Raina broke the silence.  
"Wow Siva. Way to bring down the fucking hammer."

"I do not own a hammer… Oh wait, you were making a joke. Ha ha."

And so they all continued on until they finally reached several crystals on the ceiling.

"I shall handle this."

And so the lower parts of Sivanna's "backpack" opened and released a pair of long stilt looking "feet" that carried her upwards.

The others stared in bewilderment.

"Gotta say, your cousin is damn cool Alex."

"I know right!"

"Well Rey, you always did have a thing for tall women, eh?!"

As she said this she rather violently jabbed him with his elbow, forcing him sideways slightly.

Unfortunately he had built up a direct counter reaction and punched her backwards after the jab, leading to her knocking into Sensō who was standing next to Alex while complimenting Sivanna, who then was knocked onto Alex who reflexively turned his hand into a claw which then, as he fell, sliced through one of Sivanna's "legs" leading to her losing her balance. And crashing headfirst into every crystal, so that they all fell down before she smashed into the wall! And finally fell to the ground with a pained groan.

Everyone was frozen in fear.

They looked at eachother, and then at Sivanna before rushing towards her and helping her up.

Rey broke the silence.

"Siva you, uh, you good?"

"No."

Everyone stared with slight worry.

"I am Sivanna Metrac."

"…"

There was a silence.

"So, she can joke… Great."

"Shut up Sensō, let's get the crystals so we can check her head in case something is off."

Sivanna got up from the ground and turned towards her comrades with a small smile.

"Do not worry comrades, I check my head in the mirror everyday. Everything is still on."

Alex and Raina looked at eachother.

"Er let's just get this done."

"Agreed."

And so Alexander went first

 **A few weeks ago**

 _ **Everyone was sitting at a dining table, as Samuel had demanded they all share a meal after many risky and well-handled missions. Alex was sitting there bored out of his mind as he was surrounded by some grunts that usually guard the base so they had nothing to speak of. After approximately five excruciating minutes Samuel came out with a large bowl of spaghetti and a pan of Bolognese. At first, Alexander looked at Sam as he was served the dinner. He saw an old man, worn out by war with experience, faltering hair and wrinkled skin. Then he tasted the food. Suddenly he saw Sam as a man in golden armor with long flowing golden hair, a flaming sword strapped to his hip and a pair of angel wings majestically extended behind him. He was stared at with a kind smile and beautiful blue eyes. Alex had a facial expression of a man receiving an epiphany from god's personal archangel. Meanwhile Samuel and the others stared at him confused and slightly worried as they carried on with conversations and eating.**_

 **Back with delusional warrior**

Alex had a face set in grim determination. He will deserve that spaghetti if it is the last thing he does!

Raina scooted over a few steps from his sudden determined attitude, she was pretty sure he'd be on fire if he could. She then looked at the crystal and activated it.

 **Some time ago**

 _ **A pair of vicious looking blades blocked a massive claymore, before shoving against it trying to push it back.**_

" _ **Remember, strength isn't the only way."**_

 _ **The user of the claymore proved this by disarming his opponent by simply twisting his blade swiftly. He then pointed his sword at his opponents exposed throat.**_

" _ **See Raina, strength is important but proper technique can easily outdo it."**_

 _ **Raina was panting but nodded none the less.**_

" _ **All in all you did good today, your grip however requires some work. You are a bit easily disarmed."**_

" _ **Yes father."**_

 _ **As she began walking away she saw her brother train with their mother, their swords were clashing as Rey attempted to gain an advantage by slicing with speed but his mother easily countered him at every blow. As she turned towards her father she saw he was engaging Nero in a friendly spar, which is why Nero was using a spear and her father was using a large flail. As she saw Nero get disarmed and engaged her father in CQC she had a revelation. The flail was free from a grip with its weapon part, but it was still within reach thanks to its chains.**_

 _ **Chains!**_

" _ **Father! Father I have an idea!"**_

 _ **Back to lightning corpse-eater**_

Raina gave a smile as she extended __blades and inspected her chains. Best. Memory. ever.

She had to remember to thank Nero next time they met, and ask him about that lightning bolt he sometimes throws.

While Raina and Alex were either inspecting their weapons with a fond smile or staring at nothing with a determined look I their eyes, Rey and Sensō just shrugged and used their crystals.

 **A lifetime ago (Not really)**

 _ **Sensō was in a dark room with his parents along with a small bundle of joy.**_

" _ **Remember Sensō, your brother shall be the peace offering between the two villages. You will need to care for him and help train him for many years. While he may be the gift of peace, he is still going to be your brother for quite some time. So be the best you can be."**_

 _ **Sensō nodded at his father's wise words and stepped towards the little bundle held by his mother. There he saw the "Peace Offering" or**_ _ **Heiwa Teikyō as he was named.**_

 _ **He smiled at the little child who smiled back.**_

" _ **Don't worry Heiwa, I'll be the best big brother ever. Just you watch."**_

 _ **The little child giggled and gurgled adorably and reached out its fat little baby arms to try and grab Sensō. He decided to reach out with his hand to sate his little brother's curiosity.**_

 _ **Heiwa gurgled and seemed to try and speak.**_

 _ **Sensō and his parents leaned closer and examined the boy curiously.**_

" _ **S- sas- eo- semso- Sensō."**_

 _ **Sensō's parents both gasped lightly at this, while Sensō smiled incredibly wide.**_

 _ **A child's first words are always a precious memory, and his brother had chosen his name.**_

 _ **HIS NAME!**_

 _ **Truly this was going to be an amazing brotherhood!**_

 _ **Back with the Red reminder**_

Sensō gave a sad sigh as he put away the crystal, some brotherhood that was. Ended before it could get great. He swears he will find those who did this and end them, and with Hell's guard as his comrades that goal is closer than ever before. He clenched his fist in front of him as he thought these dark thoughts while Rey was activating his crystal.

 **Bout a week ago**

 _ **Rey was sleeping soundly in his bed and was dreaming of success, respect and the love and adoration of his comrades through his actions.  
When suddenly!**_

" _ **SPIDERS! SPIDERS!"**_

 _ **His sister rushed from her side of their shared room, picked up his bed and slammed him and it into the ground several times before running back to her bed, while sleeping.**_

 _ **Meanwhile Rey was lying in the shattered pieces of his bed with a serious frown as he waited for the morning.**_

 _ **Back with family punching bag**_

He now had that very frown upon his face as the crystal showed him not such a good memory.

"Of fucking course."

As he put it in one of his pockets he trudged over to Sivanna and took Sensō out of his funk since they still had to get back to the others.

Sivanna was however using the crystal and saw a very recent memory.

 **Few weeks and months back**

 _ **Sivanna was sitting in a penthouse while eating cereal out of a white bowl in a white tank top and dark blue shorts watching television, the large amount of blood and corpses around didn't bother her very much. The cleaning lady could surely handle that. Besides there was an awesome movie on and she loved everything about it.**_

 _ **There was an intimidating robotic general, and old gentleman with duelling skills, and old man with lightning and a badass man with an intimidating breathing condition. What aught her attention most however, was the army of the bad guys. Legions upon legions of robotic soldiers marching forward without question or fear for their own demise.**_

 _ **The spoon fell out from her mouth as she finally got the inspiration for her revenge. And it would be faultless.**_

 _ **Back with first cyborg**_

"The plan was flawed, faulted and illogical."

"What plan?"

Rey asked as he approached.

"Nothing let us leave for the rendezvous point. The others are surely waiting."

Sensō just nodded and helped pull Alexander and Raina who were still stuck in their "moments".

 **With the irresponsible adults and their babysitter**

Esmeralda, Ilyana, Jacob and Nero all had their crystals almost instantly as they separated from the group. First to go was Emma.

 **Several years ago, Councillor Sheev's estate**

 _ **The entire interior was fucked up, the damn place was full of bullet casings, shattered blades and cracks all over the pavement and the walls were covered in slice marks and holes. And sitting around the centre of the room on a broken table was Esmeralda with a tired expression; she was wearing a long, seductive, crimson dress, with a pair of matching high heels. Emphasis on was since what she now wore was the same dress only it had been mostly torn apart by blades and other dangers so it looked more like a rag she found to cover her modesty. Meanwhile Samuel was standing not to far from her was Samuel standing in what was once a full tuxedo attire but now had massive rips, slices and splotches of red around it. As they both were doing fuck all they were approached by Councillor Sheev himself, the kind old man was wearing a rather finely made all black robe that covered his entire body, save for his hands as they were held together in front of him as he approached the two soldiers with an apologetic smile.**_

" _ **I am terribly sorry that you were forced to work during your day off, rest assured that the attackers will be punished accordingly and you both shall be well rewarded for your brave actions. Please help yourselves to anything in this room before you leave."**_

 _ **As he said this he gave them a small, grateful bow as he walked off to his bodyguards. As he left, Samuel gestured for the band that still stood ready to play to start.**_

 _ **And soon a beautiful tune was played as he invited Emma to dance, she graciously accepted his hand and together they gracefully moved across the undestroyed part of the dance floor as the beautiful cover of perfect day. As they separated he bowed and she replicated his gesture, before she heard a ripping sound. She stood up and noticed her dress had been ripped apart; meanwhile Samuel was standing with his arms crossed with a cocky smirk. Until his clothes suddenly fell off as he noticed Esmeralda now brandishing a katana made of ice, suddenly a "Careless Whisper" (Do not own) was being played and she tackled him to the floor as they proceeded to engage in rather… NAUGHTY actions that would possibly make the author attempt to write erotica and fail, so let's just say they rocked the building as much as the battle.**_

 _ **Simultaneously, Nero was walking with his regular armor equipped, as he was to congratulate his companions on a mission well done, before he witnessed their actions to erotic sax music. So he did a 180 spin and walked the fuck back.**_

 _ **He could ask them in the morning.**_

 _ **Back with ice mother**_

She had an utterly perverted grin on her face, it had been quite some time since their last bout, and she'd need to find a way to remove everyone temporarily so she may catch up with her beloved husband.

Meanwhile Samuel felt a terrifying chill run down his spine, he shrugged it off and continued albeit a bit more alert.

Nero was looking at Esmeralda and took a few steps back before looking to his own crystal and pouring the magic into it.

 **Back in the old days**

 _ **Nero and Samuel were both standing on opposite sides on a vast desert, they were both frowning and had their weapons drawn.**_

" _ **We have our orders Nero."**_

" _ **The orders don't check out Sam, this "legend" isn't hurting anyone so why kill it?"**_

" _ **Because that is our job, we follow orders like good soldiers!"**_

" _ **Being a good soldier doesn't mean just following orders! You have to think for yourself!"**_

 _ **But before they could continue four individuals who looked like they belong in the jungle hunting the creatures interrupted them.**_

" _ **Oh perfect, first the old man tells us to find a giant legend that hides in the desert and now we have to kill rune knights as well. We better get a bonus for this."**_

 _ **Sam and Nero looked at eachother and then at their newfound enemies, Samuel brought up his new axe and held it defensively while Nero changed gear into what looked like something alien, it showed his muscular torso while his arms were covered with metallic gauntlets with small metallic "boxes" attached, armoured plating covered his legs until his knees were reached where it leaves his muscular thighs revealed much like his torso, covered by fishnet like clothing and finally a terrifying, black "eyed" expressionless mask covering his face. He also apparently had dreadlocks now. As if things couldn't get any better a pair of parallel rather stylish blades appeared from his gauntlets from the area where his wrists are.**_

 _ **The four newcomers all unsheathed their various weapons.**_

 _ **A sudden rumbling coming from underneath their feet interrupted them all, when suddenly they noticed what seemed like plates moving beneath the sand. Unfortunately, the plates were moving and they all fell down and grabbed what they could.**_

 _ **And suddenly more and more plates were appearing before a massive head shaped like a spear tip but curved upwards with a pair of black eyes with what seemed a mix colour of green and blue with a soulless tone to them. The massive beast suddenly lurched forward and started flying upwards as massive wing like fins were at its side and large plates that kept going up and down to regulate it's speed and a pair of massive see-through air sacs were underneath that regularly filled and emptied themselves.**_

 _ **The four hunters were making their way towards the front from the rear where they had been; they would have to get by Nero who was near the central area of the beast and finally Samuel somehow ended up next to the damn thing's head.**_

 _ **Nero had managed to get quite a good standing point behind one of the large "speed flaps" which made it easier against air resistance, as he was soon engaged by two of the crooks. One of them was a bit far back, so Nero took a small cylinder from his belt, clicked a small button on the side and extended it into a dual edged spear. Unlike Zhuue's this one was meant for throwing, and so he did and ended one of the hunter's life. The other one who was far closer happened to be the leader engaged Nero in close combat with a massive machete. The other two were much closer to Samuel's position, and let's just say he wasn't feeling happy.**_

" _ **FFFFUUUUUCCCKKK!"**_

 _ **He was hanging onto some small grass looking hair that covered the beast's skin and could literally stare at the massive eye, it was staring right back at him.**_

 _ **He screamed.**_

 _ **The beast roared.**_

 _ **This caused Samuel to lose balance and spin around while still clinging to the hairs on the creature.**_

 _ **The creature seemed to somehow smirk even without a mouth and seemed to have an idea.**_

 _ **This caused Samuel's eyes to widen massively as he suddenly called out:**_

" _ **NERO HOLD ON TO THIS THING!"**_

 _ **Nero didn't question this as he held on, while the leader of the hunters did the same.**_

 _ **Suddenly the beast made a flying barrel roll and the two hunters planning on killing Samuel were turned into smears on the desert's wide plains.**_

 _ **As the hunter regained his footing he planned on killing Nero and then bag the beast. He didn't however plan on his head being impaled by seemingly nothing as his head and spine were ripped from his body as they simply floated in front of his body. Before Nero suddenly reappeared with his claws extended on his right hand, planning on adding the head to his collection.**_

 _ **Samuel was still hanging next to the beast's eye and made a motion for it to go down with his hand, the beast understood and started descending until it started cruising through the sand as if it were water, before it stopped and allowed Samuel and Nero to jump off, and for Samuel to release his lunch.**_

" _ **Well Nero, you were right. Had we just followed orders we'd have lost our new friend."**_

 _ **As Samuel said this he petted the massive beast's "face", feeling bonelike substance while it stared and flapped its massive tail part creating shockwaves on he desert floor.**_

" _ **Er, yeah Sam how do we get home?"**_

" _ **A new friend indeed."**_

" _ **Sam please, we have no idea where we are."**_

" _ **A very, very nice friend."**_

" _ **We're gonna die of dehydration."**_

 _ **Back with underappreciated babysitter**_

In the end they made it back thanks to the massive beast giving them a ride to the closest outpost, Sam named it Phalanx. Nero wanted to call it something else, but he wasn't about to mess with a several ton beast capable of levelling a city by going through it. He put the crystal away and looked towards his comrades. And thought perhaps he should introduce them to it.

Meanwhile Jacob was having a trip.

 **In ye older times**

 _ **A young boy no older than 10 was being held at gunpoint in the centre of a small desert themed town, looking as if it came straight out of a western movie.**_

 _ **There were three men in the centre of town that were all being observed by the distraught townspeople. One was in the back holding the child at gunpoint while two in front each had a rifle aiming at the sheriff that stood at the opposite side of them.**_

" _ **It's simple sheriff, surrender. Put your gun down, and brings us that there bank's currency and we'll let the kid go."**_

 _ **The sheriff didn't move, but he had started to sweat from the thought of his son being killed.**_

 _ **The hostage taker in the back was smiling cruelly as he tightened his grip on the boy.**_

" _ **Limited time offer, Sheriff. Answer now or the kid will have a hole lot of pa-AGH!"**_

 _ **The boy had bitten down on the hand that keeps him in place that let go temporarily before it came back with a harsher grip than ever.**_

" _ **Kiddo, you just made the biggest mistake of your far too short li-DUK!"**_

 _ **Suddenly, a large white armoured figure with an equally large shield and axe combo burst right through the house wall next to the hostage, punching him in the face with his axe hand, and blocking two shots fired by the hostage taker's cohorts with his shield covering the boy.**_

 _ **Meanwhile dropping from the roofs behind the other two bandits was a figure covered in grey and silver, with what looked like a ski goggles shaped red visor and small hexagonal hardened pieces were visible on him as he incapacitated them via kicking one into a building, before tanking a shot to the head shrugging it off and slamming the other guy into the ground**_

" _ **Tactical mode disengaged."**_

 _ **The people looked confused at his statement.**_

" _ **He means we're good."**_

 _ **The people gave a united "Ah" of understanding before applauding as the sheriff and "Metal man" hauled away the crooks while "axe man" was walking with the child towards the station.**_

" _ **Hey kid."**_

 _ **The boy looked up at his saviour, wonder and awe apparent in his eyes.**_

" _ **Got a name?"**_

 _ **He shoo the awe out and answered his hero, albeit uncertainly.**_

" _ **J-Jacob Smith… Sir!"**_

 _ **The axe man removed is helm and revealed his shining blonde hair and burning orange eyes, he then looked straight at young Jacob with a smile.**_

" _ **Well Jacob, you were very brave today. I'm proud of you kid, but promise me you'll practice a bit before taking on the criminal underground. Give us a chance, am I right?"**_

 _ **He laughed along with Jacob.**_

" _ **Oh, and call me Sam! Samuel Steele! Corporal rank in the rune knights serving under Sergeant Nero over there."**_

 _ **As he said this he gestured towards Nero who had once again his regular white and red armor on.**_

" _ **Hang on."**_

 _ **He picked up a brown Stetson that had been knocked off by Nero's takedown, dusted it off and placed to too large headwear atop the young lad's head.**_

" _ **When you grow into this thing, come find me. I could always use a "pardner" like you."**_

 _ **The boy's eyes shone with excitement.**_

" _ **R-Really?!"**_

" _ **Absolutely, sheriff."**_

 _ **As he watched the two men walk away, Jacob vowed to become as strong as the hero he had seen today and someday pay him back for the favour.**_

 _ **With Jacob the Man**_

"Hell, that was a long time ago."

As Jacob said this he tipped his hat slightly downwards and gave a cocky smile before putting a cigarette in and setting his sights on Ilyana who was smiling while she was viewing her crystal. Must be one of those nice memories.

 **Less than a decade ago**

" _ **HEAVY FIRE!"**_

 _ **A battlefield full of warriors from two powerful sides, one that fought for peace and freedom siding with the council. And the dark guilds, which dreamt of tyranny. The entire area was blanketed in fire by several powerful mages, whose side they were on no one could tell as they both fired "Danger Close" to their respective allies. Spells were flying everywhere and people on both sides were getting hurt from both sides, some wounds were mere scrapes while others had entire parts of their body ripped asunder. In the middle of this shitstorm that happened to occur during a large international meeting between Fiore and it's neighbours, leaving them defenceless in the face of this sudden uprising of dark guilds. Was a squad of rune knights and mages that were looking to regroup with the main force as they had been cut off during the massive fire strike.**_

 _ **Out of all these people, the one who stood out was a young girl with long blonde hair and orange eyes, who was running behind all of them due to not being able to keep up. The rookie, they named her pup.**_

" _ **Come on Wolf Pack, almost there! Pup, pick up the pace!"**_

 _ **She was struggling to keep up, carrying the squad's supplies and intel was heavy work, and all the while the smoke was making it hard to breathe. Coughing, trying to breathe, keeping the pace. All in all it was just a manner of time before she tripped. As she did, the two rear members helped her up and assisted her in catching up with her other squad mates.**_

" _ **Come on! Almost there!"**_

 _ **As they caught their breath and continued on, they were intercepted by something really, really bad.**_

" _ **Incoming!"**_

 _ **The words they dreaded were heard from their leader and the squad was beset by an enemy assault combination of spells and mages. It was a goddamn slaughter.**_

" _ **We need backu-"**_

" _ **Behind yo-!"**_

" _ **Pleas don't!"**_

 _ **His pleas were answered with a blade to the throat, soaking the ground in the blood of a begging man.**_

 _ **Pup was the only one remaining, as she had been knocked onto the ground, believed to be dead, until she struck one of the men who was commenting: "I bet she's still warm" as he walked close to her. Her hand shot out, and with it, a beam of energy that cut into the man's body, but it only served to piss him off as he proceeded to stomp on her arm, HARD.**_

" _ **I'm gonna make you a woman, lass."**_

 _ **She paled at his words and desperately sought an escape, but it was futile as her captor's comrades surrounded them and laughed at her predicament.**_

 _ **But before he could remove her clothing, Salvation arrived.**_

 _ **A figure wielding a large war hammer crushed and utterly destroyed the hostile soldiers with no sense of mercy. As he stood there, his armor caked in their blood and intestines (KOTE DARASUUM 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **song for better understanding), pup had thought fast and put on a helmet to conceal her features before the figure turned towards her.**_

 _ **He stared at her as if awaiting something.**_

 _ **She merely made the "Ok" sign with her hand.**_

 _ **He nodded before speaking out to most troops in the surrounding area.**_

" _ **All troops, Steele has arrived. Converge towards the central area and regroup. Lieutenant Nero will be ready to give you orders. I will open a path."**_

 _ **And so he charged into the fires of battle, smashing his enemies upon the anvil of war, while troops around were inspired immensely to see such a competent warrior on their side.**_

 _ **Pup took several deep breaths, before removing her armor and taking several different pieces from her fallen squad mates, creating a new sort of armor featuring both light and heavy defence. Along with all their dogtags.**_

 _ **As she reached the meeting point, she was approached by her commanding officer.**_

" _ **Mage, what is your call sign?"**_

 _ **She was silent, and looked towards the ground before she shot up with a determined, burning look in her eyes.**_

" _ **I. Am. Revenant."**_

 _ **Back with Trauma**_

Her smile promised pain for many who were still alive. She still remembered many of those who had fought her had been crying out for mercy, funny how irony works. And her dear brother's rage proved to be a tide turner as she had "dissappeared" from the safe haven near the council building. It was a slaughter and she had revelled in the chance for vengeance that her comrades deserved. There were still scumbags out there, and she would find them, and when she did. Well, let us just say red will be her new style for a while.

As the four of them got ready they all headed back towards the exit, thinking about the aspects of life they had seen from themselves, revelling in the precious memories or plotting brutal retribution. Either way this was an experience they would not soon forget. Even if some may have wanted to.

 **With the responsible children**

Krytus and Lucretzia were both walking in one direction, as usual together with complete silence; they soon found something that literally was fate tempting them. They found a crystal that had been split perfectly in two, each of them picked up one half each, pushed them together and filled it with their united magic.

 **In the past, at the same time**

 _ **In a massive purple expanse, showing nothing but it's purplish expanse. In the centre, stood two men. One wore old robes coloured in faded purple that showed only his glowing eyes, and the other wore fine clothing mixed with armor protecting his vital parts. But no helmet was worn, showing his white hair and red eyes. They both stared at eachother with sombre expressions.**_

" _ **You know the void. You have served and used it, you have seen and heard it. And now you have been within it as it has been within you. You have done well my son."**_

" _ **Yes, father. Your praise brings me joy."**_

 _ **His father gave a nod, as his face and body were both still cloaked by the well cloak.**_

" _ **There is but one final test, prove to me that you are worthy of inheriting the void. Prove to me that your ambition and strength trumps my own! Prove to me, Krytus that you are worthy to be called Zemerik!"**_

 _ **Krytus gave a nod and extended his void blade from his right hand as his father's arms were revealed and showed pale skin with intricate tattoos glowing in an eldritch blue as mighty purple energy gathered in the father's hands.**_

" _ **Farewell, father."**_

 _ **And so began young Zemerik's final trial.**_

 _ **Meanwhile. In another part of the immaterial plain.**_

 _ **Lucretzia stood before three mighty warrior spirits, all whom stood in front of a woman who looked in all accounts similar to her, but her eyes were a serene azure rather than red.**_

" _ **My beloved daughter, the time has come for you to inherit my mantle of keeper of these warriors, while a great honour it also boasts a great responsibility. You will battle alongside them; they will use your flesh as you use their power. Two souls in one body, two blades from one warrior and two corpses in one grave. You shall live and die together."**_

 _ **Lucretzia nodded at her mother's words.**_

" _ **You must be weary, while they are no longer among the living they may yet feel pain and suffering. Your pain and suffering will be theirs, and the opposite is also true."**_

 _ **Lucretzia once more nodded and looked towards the three warriors in front of her.**_

 _ **The huntress: her mighty orange armor, red helm and piercing green eyes strike fear into the heart of any prey she sets her sights upon.**_

 _ **The assassin: His unfeeling iron mask and reflective glass eyes promise nothing short of the void for those who become his targets, his clothes would be more befitting of a royal protector than anything else.**_

 _ **And last but certainly not least was:**_

 _ **The general: a large mighty warrior wearing armor befitting his rank, looking as if he fought many battles leading samurai into victory after victory. His pale as moon skin and glowing harlequin green eyes served to inspire and intimidate ally and enemy alike, and if it was not enough his four arms and massive butterfly swords were quite a sight as well.**_

" _ **I shall honour thy wishes mother. Mighty warriors, I beseech thee to aid me in coming battles for the sake of peace and glory."**_

 _ **She ended the speech with giving a deep bow to them, which surprised them, but made her mother give a small smile.**_

 _ **The huntress recovered first.**_

" _ **Your words are true and your intentions clear. Very well, we shall serve you, Lady Zemerik."**_

 _ **And so, the three spirits bowed to their new mistress.**_

 _ **My daughter, there is but one task left unfulfilled."**_

" _ **What is this task, mother?"**_

" _ **You must end the previous accord between the spirits, you must wipe away the debt, you must end my life."**_

"… _**Yes mother. Thou wish be done."**_

 _ **Her mother smiled as a single tear slid down her cheek.**_

" _ **My child, words cannot describe my pride. Let the old accord end and a new alliance be struck. Know that my love for you shall always be as strong as the tide and as eternal as the earth. Farewell my beloved daughter."**_

 _ **As her mother said this, Lucretzia brought out her extendable three claws from her gauntlet and walked up to her mother, standing in front of her. She pulled her arm back and offered a brief prayer before impaling her mother through the heart.**_

 _ **Back with scarred children**_

They both immediately pocketed their respective crystal and looked at eachother, each gaze unwavering. They each took several steps and embraced eachother in a sibling hug, comforting eachother while seeking comfort from the other. Much like a sword and a sheath they worked together perfectly when it came to battle and emotions. AS their embrace continued on, they soon stopped separated and nodded at eachother. Before moving on.

 **Finally time for big S**

Samuel was trudging on by himself, revelling and detesting the solitude simultaneously. He looked for something, anything to remember, to make him think of something else. Something that isn't completely fucking terrible. He finally finds one after minutes of walking, it is rather regular in size, not small enough to limit a memory and not large enough to view it entirely.

He poured in his magic and hoped for the best.

 **Many long years ago**

 _ **A young Samuel was sitting next to and even younger Ilyana, they were both eating dinner and his sister was excitedly talking about many things she learnt in school, and Samuel was happily listening. As she went on about history, math and geography, he was impressed with how much she learned and knew from a few days in school. As the hours grew late he carried his excited, sleeping younger sister towards her bed. As he put her into bed, pulled up her comfy blanket and gave her a small kiss on her forehead as she smiled in her sleep and snuggled deeper into comfort.**_

 _ **As he closed the door, he took deep breath before clenching his fists tightly and closed his eyes, before letting it out through clenched teeth. Before he opened his eyes with a determined fire, for his sister, he'd do this time and time again. As he walked towards the outer door, he picked up several pieces of armor and a customized helmet shaped like a gaping maw with fire inside, he then picked up a machete and a pickaxe with the word "RAVAGE" written on it. And so he set out to another night of fighting for cash, day jobs do pay, but not nearly enough for comfortable living of two children.**_

 _ **He tells himself, her future is more important than his; she'll become something peaceful like a councillor or a hotel owner.**_

 _ **Back with Big Boss man**_

"Nope, decided to become a fucking mercenary."

As he complained he pocketed the little rock he complained about all the shit he had to go through to get here and it was fucking idiotic that shit had happened to this day. And something stupid was gonna happen soon and he knew it.

 **Meanwhile**

Dark Horse squad was walking and talking, and suddenly a stalactite fell from the ceiling and onto Johnny's head, which knocked him out completely.

His friends could just stare in surprise and shock before carrying him towards the area which they would meet the rest.

 **An unspecified amount of time later**

Johnny woke up in the guild's main hall, as it was completely empty and devoid of any form of life. He rubbed his head from the pain before something popped into existence right next to him that caused him to yelp in surprise in a most unmanly way before he fell to the floor.

As he turned around and looked he saw it was Buzz, as a ghost.

"Buzz! You're here!"

"Hell yeah I am!"

"Why?!"

"I'm the ghost of Christmas past!"

"Really?!"

"Welp, your version anyway."

"Oh, cool. So you gonna show me some of my past Christmases to convey some message or something."

"I would… But I got no idea how the fuck I should since we never talked about Christmas so I got no clue what to do here."

"Oh… So how are things being dead?"

"Pretty chill."

"Yo boys, how about you let present do his thing. The past is over and present is now and the present has got to happen. So GTFO."

They looked towards the new voice that appeared in the door, it was a slim man who was almost six feet tall with brown, thick and messy hair that curled towards it's ends, a soul patch was visible on his chin.

His attire consisted of s black undershirt, a pair of black dress pants, a pair of white shoes and most notable of all was the purple trench coat he was wearing that covered most of his body. But it did let them see his little tattoo which was a dollar sign with a cobra wrapped around it on the right side of his neck- All these things combined with his white skin and grey eyes made him a fairly fashionable and attractive man.

He grinned as he spoke.

"My name is Mammon Amon, but you may call me Avarice. I'm here to teach you the meaning of Christmas."

"Ok, how?"

"You got 10K jewels?"

"Pardon?"

"10K Jewels, hard of hearing are we?"

"Ok, but why?"

"It is about the spirit of Christmas, we all gotta be good to eachother. You give me 10K jewels and I wont kill ya."

As he said this he was holding a rather tight grip on Johnny's shoulder. As he had been approaching while they were talking.

"Ah, I get it!"

Johnny said nervously.

"10K"

With noises of uncertainty he handed his new "friend" the money he had in his pocked which happened to be the exact wage.

"Thank you my boy, you really feel the spirit of Christmas! Now… You got another 10K jewels?"

Johnny looked on in shock.

"Again?!"

"Of course, you don't know it but there are some ass hats that just wanna prank you. Gimme 10K and I'll handle them otherwise I'll "handle" YOU. Do you understand Christmas now?"

Johnny was without words in his shock.

"Uh, new guy, how about I pay you and we go handle those guys?"

"Very well, Johnny relax and don't worry about anyone screwing around. We got this."

"Er, okay. Thanks I guess."

And so the two ghosts dissappeared and left Johnny to his loneliness.

"Wait, past, present… Now's future! I bet I become a badass!"

As if on cue, a figure emerged from the shadows. A figure with a most feminine form. A figure clad in cobalt, dark blue armor that was being covered by shadows save for their right side.

"Oh hey! Future right, can we skip most stuff and see how I turned out. Please?"

The figure merely pointed at a tombstone next to him.

"Ah, dramatic flare eh? He he. You are a bit cooler than the other guys from earlier."

He weakly tried humour that instantly failed.

As he read the tombstone he saw name, gender, birthdate but when he read the death date it read:

 **BETRAYED CANON FODDER**

"CANON FODDER? BETRAYED?! Nonononono! This can't be right; the- the guys at home love me! Right?! You made a mistake! Yeah, you fucked up!"

As he said this, the figure stepped out from the shadows and revealed that they were someone he knew from recent events. It was Lucretzia with her Knightmare spirit; she did however look far more monstrous with her repulsive mutations showing around her body and armor. Pair that with her helm being off showing her red eyes shining with malice and her right hand not having any armor. Looking very similar to Alexander horrid clawed hands with smaller claw like fingers. In her left hand was the massive cursed blade.

"Wait, wait you want me to be tougher?! I'll be tougher and say what I think and not let them step right over me! I'll become like Brad and be a badass that says what he wants and thinks and stop being a little weakling so SPIRIT I BEG YOU DON'T MAKE ME DIE AS TRAITOROUS CANON FODDER NOOOOO!"

As Johnny was listing how we would improve his life "Lucretzia" had come closer and closer until she had grabbed him with her evil hand and raised him upwards while pulling her sword back. And as he cried out against fate she gave him a little tap with her sword on his head before offering a cruel smile as a Santa ha appeared atop his head.

 **Later**

Johnny woke with a shout and looked around to see the main hall full of his comrades as he took several deep breaths to calm down.

"Ah, Johnny you are awake. How was your nap?"

Samuel's question caught him slightly off guard, so he gathered his thoughts before he answered.

"Well I saw a few familiar faces, got a little scared and saw THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT!"

As he said this he pointed towards the face of Mammon who had appeared right next to Sam with a witty smile.

"Either you pay me as a ghost or someone who give presents. Both cost extra."

"This is our new member, call him Avarice. I made him an offer he could not refuse."

"He offered me 10K to join, I wanted more and he said he would kill me. So we agreed to his price and here I am."

"I see… Could we… Could we just start celebrating, I think I need some time off."

"Alright, HELL'S GUARD PARTY TIME!"

And so the celebration was in full go. Everyone was holly and jolly and had a damned good time. Everyone was dancing, listening to Christmas stories or getting completely drunk out of their minds. But the one thing they could all agree on.

Is to wish my dear readers:

 _ **A Merry Christmas!**_

 **A/N: Holy hell am I sorry this took so long, lots of stuff happened, lots of things were done and vacations were had and games were played. School was also somewhere in the corner hitting me with a baseball bat made of tests and homework here and there. I hope you all accept this little Christmas gift as a "Sorry for making you wait for so long!"**

 **I would also like to thank the users: BETAsatchel and The Professional Holiday Man for: Giving me a new character and motivating me to hurry the fuck up respectively. Thank you all fro reading and happy holidays and free time.**

 **Ciao.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: "Here's what I'm gonna do"

Previously on Hell's Guard:

"Remembering!"

"Well done my boy!

"SPIDERS!"

"Keep up!"

"FUUUUUCCCKKKK!"

"10K Jewels"

"GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT!"

 **Hell's Guard, Main Hall**

It had been a month since the guild received a new member and things had been picking up quite a lot. Especially with tons of jobs popping up, and most if not all requested Samuel to attend. Unfortunately this caused massive exhaustion as about a third of those jobs were semi-assassinations, another was bodyguard duty for hated individuals and the final stretch was mostly photo ops where he had to stand still while doing impressive yet incredibly tiring feats for hours until they took the photo. This left Samuel in a state of deliriousness, famine and temporal idiocy.

"Sam you need to rest. As your physician I must recommend this."

"No, I got… I got jobs to do."

Esmeralda decided to cut in and help.

"Honey, you and I both know you're tired so why not come with me for a little nap. I'll make it worth your while."

She said with a rather naughty undertone.

"Not now Jacob, I'm talking to Emma about resting."

They both looked at eachother and then back to Sam.

He surprised the rest of the onlookers when he stood up and called for their attention.

"Listen up, we have new members coming and I need you to keep your eyes open in case something is up."

Everyone took this seriously and kept their weapons at arms reach, even Avarice, who was currently tricking six guards out of their money, was ready for a rumble.

The front doors opened and let in…

"Holy shit its "The Pillar Men!" (Do not own them either)

Rey cried out.

Three men entered, two having beautiful golden hair, and one having long black hair, they all stood around 6,1 except for the black haired one who stood at 6,4 towering over his companions.

The one to the left was built lean, had his golden hair reaching down to his shoulders and a pair of deep, dark blue eyes. He had a tattoo of wings stretching across his shoulders, and a large tattoo of a wolf howling at a moon that was placed between the wings. He was wearing white slacks, a dark blue shirt, black boots that reach his knees, a blue and white jacket that reached down to his thighs with a cross on each shoulder. And finally he had a long sword that was kept in a harness on his back, it radiated energies that made most people think of church.

The one on the right was built with more muscles and broad shoulders, his hair was shaved at the bottom and longer on the top, what set him aside from his comrades however was his well tanned skin and his dark green eyes. He had a tattoo of the sun on his chest, and a tribal tattoo with holy runes laced through it going over his shoulder and all the way down to his wrist. He also seemed to have golden wings across his shoulders.

And finally, came the centrepiece of the trio.

The final member of the trio stood taller than his companions, with his long black hair and dark amethyst eyes his appearance was quite striking compared to the other two. He had a lot of tattoos on is body, most striking however was that of a fox on the front of his left hip that… he was… showing… MOVING ON! Tribal tattoos much like the one on his left going over his right shoulder down to his elbow that were also laced with holy runes. There were more holy runes down his right thigh and black wing marks across his shoulders. He was wearing black slacks tucked into soft, black boots, a tight, black sleeveless shirt and a black, knee length jacket with silver crosses on the shoulders and one over his left breast. His ears were pierced with silver studs.

The three new arrivals were all smiling at their welcoming committee, as Samuel continued.

"These three… There are three of you right?"

The three arrivals all looked at him with a questioning stare, before answering with a series of: "Yeah" and "yeps".

"Ok… These three are from left to right, Vander, Zen and Beck they're… uh."

Vander decided to "assist" Samuel's clear problem.

"We are brothers and the sons of the mage Laxus Dreyar, and yes ladies. I am available." He punctured his statement with finger guns, only to duck from a bench being thrown his way.

Zen merely shook his head at his younger brother.

"We used to be employed by the magic council, but we are now seeking somewhat of a safe haven where we are not always forced on lethal missions that may easily end in our deaths."

There was a silence punctured by Jacob.

"So you came to a sanctioned mercenary guild that focuses on lethal missions, in order to avoid them?"

"That is correct."

"Well you Dreyars sure are something."

Zen shrugged.

"What can I say, death is like a suit. Everyone has got it tailored for them and we felt unfitting for the jobs."

There was another silence, which was shattered by slight chuckling coming from Sam.

"He, he. Unfitting death suits."

Finally Beck decided to speak up with a smile.

"What I'm sure my older brothers are trying to say is that we look forward to working with you all and hope to treat you all like family and that you will treat us the same!"

He gave an adorable beaming smile.

Everyone took a step back with a hand in front of their faces, they were all shielding their eyes while thinking: "S-So bright!" at the same time.

Esmeralda was wearing sunglasses alongside Ilyana as they were both silently giggling at everyone's reactions.

As the introductions were over, Samuel, who was still standing even though exhaustion should have knocked him out, decided on their codenames.

"Okay… Zen already had one so he will be Raven. Beck… You will be sunshine because… Apparently you're very bright… or something."

The two brothers nodded, satisfied with their names.

"And Vander, you were going to be called Wolf, but my sister" he said as he gestured to a confused Alex.

"Chose that name instead of Revenant when she works here with us, so you're gonna have to solve who's gonna be Alpha… Or Omega… Or Beth…a?"

The two walked up to eachother, Ilyana being slightly taller than him, he gave her smooth smile, and she merely had a neutral face. He made several flirty gestures and facial expressions that promised some fun as he hoped to charm her into giving him the place he thought was his. Had he been a little more observant he would have noticed Jack, Zhuue and Esmeralda holding down Jacob whose hat was literally blazing as he was reaching for his guns.

Ilyana just let out some air from her nose and pulled out a steel rod that… Well that looked like a penis, details and all. This caused many an eyebrow to shoot up in question, before she caused quite an uproar when she shoved it rather deeply in her mouth causing many to stare with eyes wide and mouths agape. Vander was just smiling wider as his eyebrows kept bouncing up and down with intensity. Before everyone, Vander included brought their hands down to their privates as she, without blinking, bit cleanly through the phallic instrument and spat out the mangled half after chewing on it for a little while.

There was a dead silence, before she stared right at the frightened Vander, eyes cold as winter.

"Woof."

And with nothing more, Vander stepped aside and the Alpha stepped out of their impromptu ring, with a wide berth given by the male (and surprisingly, the female) populace, as she headed for her own room.

Samuel, who was now wobbling with terrible balance, spoke once more.

"Don't worry Wolf, my sister is a complete badass, she once bit off a guys leg and beat him with it… And ate my favourite spoon… Never saw that spoon again. Now if we are done with introductions we have work to do."

Everyone groaned and yelled at their glorious leader.

"SAM GO TO BED!"

Even Zen and Beck joined in, Vander was still frozen in shock.

Samuel frowned and took of his helmet before opening the main door stairs that lead out into the frozen tundra outside of their base.

"Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna show you that I'm still alarmed and awake by running up and down those stairs without falling and show you that I can work a lot more before needing to rest, Okay?"

Everyone seemed to nod and motion for him to continue.

So Samuel, took a small running start towards the stairs, he moved faster and faster as his eyes began to close. And as he approached the stairs he fell right fucking through them with a massive crash, this caused everyone to jump in a mix of surprise and shock, as there now was a massive hole in the CONCRETE and IRON staircase.

"So… NOT IT!"

This was followed by a row of: "Not its" until the only one who hadn't said anything was Zhuue and Jack. Jack mostly because Zhuue had no chance.

 **An hour of lugging Sam later**

As Samuel had been lugged over to his room they came back and everyone began to mingle.

Jacob, Rey and Raina were talking to Vander who had just recovered from his shock.

"So… you are using some sort of Celestial Lunar magic that originates from the Archangel line of magic?"

"Yes Rey, your ability to repeat what I just told you is astounding."

Rey made a most amusing face while Raina laughed. Soon she stopped and asked.

"So, you're interested in our aunt, eh? You know she could kick your ass seven ways from Sunday, right?"

Vander merely grinned.

"I love a woman that can kick my ass."

Jacob merely grunted and caused them to look towards him.

"I would advise against it, see she's already got someone gunning for her."

Vander took the challenge, all while grinning.

"Really, and who might that be? Pretty sure they can't match an Archangel."

What surprised Rey, Raina and Vander was the fact that Jacob gave a smile of his own.

Before his entire arm caught ablaze and nearly blinded them with its radiance.

"Someone, HOT AS HELL."

While the three of them were trying to comprehend when Jacob became so cool, another table was discussing another brother.

"So you singlehandedly managed to bring Fiore into war by creating a personal army of robotic soldiers that followed your every command, forced every guild to join forces to combat you. Nearly conquered the most critical location and faced our guild master in single combat until you were beaten by him, correct?"

"You are well informed, Captain Dreyar."

"I no longer have that rank and I would appreciate if you did not call me such, "Mistress."

There was a small huff of amusement from Sivanna.

"Wow, Zen, dude you are pretty damn cool. Like, way up!"

"Thank you Alex, praise from a murderer as skilled as you is better than threats that is for sure."

Alex was silent, before suddenly laughing.

"Oh I get it! Because threats are worse than praise! Especially from a murderer!"

Zen stared with a deadpan look.

"Yes, that is correct."

Brad, who was sitting there alongside Johnny, who was reading a comic for some reason, decided to ask something.

"Can you tell us anything about the operations you performed under the council, perhaps something that will aid our teamwork?"

Zen seemed to think this through before answering.

"No, sadly what we did was covert and I would prefer not to reveal such information without good reason, I hope you understand."

Brad merely nodded.

And at the last table we find… These guys.

Beck was idly chatting with the twins, Sensō and Ancheindo.

"So you see, the void isn't inherently evil. It merely looks menacing and counters most magic but it is basically just an empty room."

"I see. So you are not technically a demon that comes from another dimension to enslave and destroy us?"

"No Sensō, so you may stop throwing holy water at me."

"Nope."

Krytus sighed, as he was once more soaked in holy water by Sensō.

Meanwhile, Lucretzia was having a small conversation with Beck while Ancheindo was drinking some tea.

"So you were trained from when you were 6 years old at the magic academy in Crocus, and then joined the Magic Council's special forces along with your brothers?"

"Indeed."

"Interesting, me an brother were both similarly trained from a young age, we were however mostly home schooled by our parents. Taught combat, magic, history, mathematics and proper linguistics with matching speech patterns. It has taken me quite an amount of time to modernize my speech. But I feel it is quite adequate at its current level. 'Tis quite a hardship to not fall back into ye older speech I was taught by mother."

Beck however was a bit transfixed on the beautiful woman in front of him. Her beautiful white hair, her alluring red eyes her innocent facial expression and her exotic tattoo around her left ear. It looked sinister but exciting at the same time.

"-Wouldn't you agree, Beck?"

"Hm? Yes indeed."

He snapped at attention as he had been transfixed by her beauty, she may have someone else gunning for her but he couldn't deny that he would gladly try and woo her. "His heart is in his sleeve, right?"

"So you agree with the fact that even if someone has no combative abilities tey can provide at least as much assistance for their allies as a member that fights?"

Beck's eyes widened as he confirmed.

"As long as they can assist it doesn't matter if they are fighting or not."

"See Ancheindo? You have helped us so much more than most of us that can just fight. You have saved more lives than most of us combined!"

Ancheindo smiled at the praise.

"I thank you for your kind words. I feel truly appreciated here. And I hope I may in turn make others feel the same here."

Everyone nodded at her words and continued to discuss until they were suddenly interrupted by the intercom chiming in.

"Listen up rooks, l33ts and bosses. This is one of your acting commanding officers saying its time to test out the three new guys! Protocol dictates that we send 'em on a mission that will evaluate 'em. But me 'n Emma here decided to spare some time and let y'all see a good 'ol fashioned fight! Report to the training area/battle arena for one hell of a show!"

Everyone cheered and headed off towards the arena in a rush, except for Sensō who stopped and looked behind him towards Ancheindo who simply sat there smiling, and drinking her tea.

"You coming?"

She merely smiled and shook her head.

"I won't be able to see the battle anyway, and besides someone has to tell Samuel where everybody went when he gets up. Tell me who won, alright?"

Sensō smiled and nodded at her.

"I will, see you soon."

And so he set off after the others, Ancheindo was once more left in peace with her tea.

A rather heavy stomping soon interrupted her peaceful ways, she turned towards the sound and once more smiled when she realized.

"Oh, hello sir! You're back so soon."

 **Battle Arena**

Jack was sitting grumpily at a bench watching from the area closest to the arena itself, he was the medic after all and he had been against this thing from the beginning. Someone would get hurt badly, and he'd patch them up, and Sam would get really pissed. And he'd make that face. And he'd feel terrible about it. Stupid democracy, why must it be used against him?

Meanwhile near the centre stood the three Dreyars, all ready with their weapons of choice.

Vander stood with his long sword at the ready. Zen was dual wielding his katanas in an offensive position. And Beck was standing in a martial arts pose with his hands near his face much like a defensive block.

And on the opposing side stood Esmeralda with her long masamune katana, looking eager for a good scrap. Next to her stood Jacob, ready and willing with his twin revolvers spinning back and forth to show off some of his skill outside of battle. And finally, standing on her other side was Alexander who was just confused about the whole ordeal. As he looked around he saw everyone in the guild around him cheering, some had signs that said "Go Vander", "Zen give sum!" or "Beck give 'em heck!" while others had "Sheriff take 'em out!", "Ice queen REAL MEAN!" and Sivanna was standing at one area basically alone with a few Clankers with a large sign saying: "Show them your superior evolution and render them unable to carry on the conflict." She then turned it around and it said "FUCK THEM UP."

 **At the audience area**

Meanwhile on the stands Dark Horse squad were watching.

"Be ready to observe them, we can gather Intel on their skills and teamwork and perhaps learn their weaknesses in case we are required to battle them."

Cam nodded at his leaders wise words.

"Understood squad lead, this'll probably be very educational as they seem to only use close combat. Maybe you'll pick up a few tricks, eh Johnny?"

There was no response.

"Johnny?"

As he turned around he saw Johnny had run off towards their newest "moneyman", Mammon, or Avarice, as he liked to be called was apparently starting a small betting pool.

"Come on, come on! Were talking a big fight here, any and all bets are taken! Full winnings delivered to either part. In the event of a draw cash goes to house, that clear?"

Soon enough Johnny shuffled in past the mass of gamblers.

"Eh, do you take items as betting currency"

Avarice smiled.

"Damn right! If it's got worth I'll make it work!"

He was handed one of Johnny's custom boom daggers (patent pending).

"Oh, custom, techie and deadly. This is worth a bit."

It was deconstructed in his right hand, and then a glow flowed towards his left and was remade into a lump sum of Jewels.

"Oh, nice. So what's your bet?"

"Er, I bet for a tie! Or something!"

Avarice thought this over, before answering in a hushed tone.

"Give me half the winnings and I'll hook you up with some pretty good upgrades for your knives. Deal?"

"Deal!"

They shook hands and Johnny returned to his seat with his team focusing on the centre of the arena where Jack was standing with a mike.

 **Arena**

"Alright, the rules are simple. No lethality, no killing, no assaulting a weakened enemy who is unable to battle. You all fight until either of you is incapacitated, surrenders or is in a "death grip" AKA a situation where you can be killed by a simple move. Much like a blade at the throat. At first sign of serious damage I will interfere. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded and went into position.

"Very well, let the examination begin!"

And so started the battle that would evaluate the power of the Dreyars, while also showing them the power of their superior officers.

The six fighters immediately engaged eachother in close combat… Save for Alexander who was still just standing there confused.

First to engage were the "leaders" of each team, Zen engaged Esmeralda in a quick sword lock before swiftly turning it into what could only be described as a blade storm. While Zen's two katanas did give him an edge in offensive and swift strikes, his opponent used sword and sheath in defence and was far more experienced in combat due to her age of service. Not saying he was at a disadvantage but he was going to have a good, hard fight.

After the probable fifth time they had clashed and not done any damage, Esmeralda spoke.

"Impressive skills, steadfast determination and superior swordplay. You worked in the special forces correct?"

He nodded while nimbly parrying three swift strikes.

"Indeed, I am curious as to how you could tell without me mentioning it in your presence."

She gave a smirk.

"Back when I worked for the council, I fought every swordsman from every division. Except for the Special Forces. Your style is like nothing I have previously fought. So show me what passes for skill among your brethren!"

He smirked as he began charging up his magic.

"As you wish, however I expect you to show me your strength in kind."

She merely grinned as ice started forming around the floor where she stood. Before both of them charged eachother with blades at the ready and magic charging.

Meanwhile.

Jacob was firing after Vander with his pistols, every shot was close but his target just kept dodging.

"Good to know you can run, boy! But can you actually fight?"

His opponent's continuous frustration and irritation were increasingly amusing to Vander.

"Course, just feel I should let the old man have a go first!"

His smirk came to an abrupt end when a wall of fire came up in front of him, blocking his movement and limiting it towards Jacob.

Who just so happened to be walking forward with a rather evil looking smirk.

"This is gonna be fun."

Vander thought quickly and blasted Jacob with his Redemption magic, which was quite similar to celestial body magic but with more holy power than star.

Jacob's head snapped back, before he turned back with pure RAGE in his eyes.

While hell hath no fury like a woman twice scorned, a merc with firepower, fire magic and a lot of anger comes pretty damn high on the list.

Vander could only say one thing as he unsheathed his long sword.

"Oops?"

And finally.

Alexander was still standing confused, still not sure what he was supposed to do, looking much like a confused Travolta-GIF.

Meanwhile, Beck stood at the ready with his halberd poised to strike.

"Uh, what am I supposed to do?"

Beck looked at him questioningly before answering.

"Fight me."

"Why?"

"It is part of our initiation."

"Why?"

"To gauge our strength."

"Oh, so I'm gonna fight you?"

"Yes."

"Ok, how hard?"

This caught Beck off guard, he wasn't sure if this was an attention span test or if this guy was messing with him.

Wait!

Maybe it was a test!

He smirked as he figured it out.

"Everything you got! Don't stop until one of us is incapable of standing up."

Alex made an "OH" face, as he finally realized what he was supposed to be doing.

(I can already tell this is going to be a rollercoaster ride of fuckuppery.)

With almost no warning, Alex leapt forward and bowled beck over, before his right hand turned into one of his usually seen "Death Claws" as he used his left to hold his opponent down.

"You lose, time to die."

Beck was honestly surprised, and scared. Alexander was an unpredictable foe and he honestly was worried this might be his end.

" _Pfft! He is so scared! I'll just shove my claw into the ground next to him and tell him psych!"_

His little thoughts were interrupted by a fierce cry of "NO!" from his right and before he knew it he was blasted sideways by a bright shining light, and suddenly he felt two blades slice through his right arm as he crashed into the floor, and was suddenly screaming in pain as he was suddenly ablaze.

What had happened was that Vander had seen his younger brother's predicament and with the help of the eldest brother had surprised their opponents with a combined magic assault and dashed to their younger sibling's aid, Vander striking Alex with a mighty punch augmented by his magic, Zen slicing off the offending arm with his katanas. And finally Beck, more out of reflex, used his own magic to set Alex ablaze, after a few seconds he realized the horror of what he had done.

This was an evaluation! Not a death battle!

"I'm so sor-"

A sudden pain cut him off as he was launched towards his brothers that managed to catch him, before he slammed into a wall.

As they looked, they saw Sivanna standing in front of the burned, writhing Alex. Her eyes filled with anger. Her blades extended fully.

"Touch him again and I will rip out your spines."

As if to solidify her point, a taller and more metallic figure stepped up behind her. It extended a pair of familiar chainsaw blades, as well as a pair of guns sticking up from it's shoulders, all of it aimed at the three brothers.

Vander and Zen stepped up to their brother's defence.

"He was trying to kill our brother, we acted accordingly."

"Yeah, how bout you warn us next time as psycho is part of an evaluation!"

Jacob and Esmeralda arrived to defuse the situation, but things seemed to only escalate as Jacob saw Alexander's state.

"Aw hell no! It's on now punks!"

"Stand down Jacob."

"No! You don't get to tell me to just sit by while one of my pals is a fucking crispy fry!"

"Clearly a training accident, these things happen. So put your guns away, or else."

"Accident?! This shit coulda killed him! Now step the fuck back or I'll show you how we handled traitors back home."

Esmeraldas neutral face became a deep frown.

"You are pushing your luck."

Her hand reached for her sword as she pulled it out and brandished it with harming intent towards him.

"AND my patience."

Additional people joining up alongside Esmeralda with weapons trained on Jacob and Sivanna, among them Dark Horse and his squad interrupted their little squabble.

"Sorry, sir. But we cannot allow her to harm our new members."

Jacob scoffed.

"You're just salty 'cuz you lost one of your own."

A small frown made it's way to Brad's face.

"That may be, but it does not make it any less right."

Everyone was quite surprised to see Rey and Raina joining up with Jacob rather than their mother.

"Father always taught me to stand by my battle brothers, even if it means fighting my own."

Everyone made a slight eyebrow rise at this rather noble statement, before looking at Rey with less than enthusiastic expressions.

The man in question, blushed slightly before taking a deep breath and saying:

"Love makes you do stupid things."

This caused even the people on Rey's side to look at him with great surprise and shock. Nobody had expected this answer, not even his mother.

Sivanna noticed a small rise in her internal body temperature, and an unusual rise in the amount of blood around her facial area but she ignored it, as it was not relevant to the current situation.

Esmeralda shook her head out of her stupor.

"While I am both proud and happy for you both, I will still demand you all to stand down. Lest I should take action."

More and more of the people around started to pick sides, the twins joined up with Esmeralda, Zhuue and Sensō joined up with Jacob, Jack desperately tried to stop the escalation and Ilyana went to Jacob. The tension was thick enough to slice with a knife. No side would back down, all weapons at the ready; a single spark could set everyone off into a bloody battle.

Unfortunately for them, this spark was a goddamn titan.

Suddenly, the very ground rose and struck everyone in the face! Knocking them all down to the ground, as they all regained their bearings they looked towards the entrance as they heard a rhythmic thumping. They saw Ancheindo standing there looking quite concerned as the thumping continued.

Soon a very familiar form stood at the door, and it caused them all to become slightly worried.

Samuel had finally arrived and was wearing full armor, including his helm that covered his entire face from them.

"I just had a horrible thought, that I was leading the most powerful bunch of mercenaries in Fiore. And that if I let them alone they would… Get into trouble."

As he said this he began clenching his fist and almost simultaneously everyone around began to either be crushed in one area of their body or lifted into the air or even chocked depending on where they had metal.

"Now I know you idiots wouldn't be stupid enough to start infighting, would you now?"

Quickly he was answered with multiple heads shaking and some saying "No!" rapidly. Satisfied with the answer, Samuel released everyone as they caught their breaths.

"Make no mistake, I have a simple two chance policy and this was your first chance. Next time there will be consequences for anyone targeting a friendly, and I am a man who sees pain as the finest teacher. Am. I. Clear?"

Everyone nodded in perfect sync.

"Good, now I have some… News."

As he said this, another pair of footsteps was heard coming from the door, and as the person arrived, Brad tightened his fists and Esmeralda started to grit her teeth.

Agent Saren Sidonis had once more returned in his white, black, bluish armor.

"Ah, Sammy I see you've expanded your ranks and redecorated! Love the new arena… Why does it smell like bacon?"

"Jack see to Alexander's rapid recovery, we need him for another job."

"Yes sir."

"WELL seeing as you are all independent mercenaries. I would like to inform you all about the current status quo outside of Fiore!"

He was met with silence and raised eyebrows.

"Fiore has been in a period of peace since your little excursions and missions, so outside nations have asked us for assistance. So in response we are sending, you."

"Why would we accept a request such as this? We are quite comfortable here and we know nothing of these nations. Even Alvarez is a mystery to us."

Brad pointed out logically.

"Yeah, we got a pretty good deal here. And I don't feel like busting Rey out of prison in another nation."

"HEY!"

"You will accept these missions, because they are offering a few of their own mercs as payment alongside relics, weapons, money and international relations."

This caused a murmur of agreement from everyone present.

"And we shall pay for transportation to any and all locations that are to be travelled towards, you will also get a week of vacation there as well!"

Everyone agreed that these were fine prizes indeed.

"Alright, what would you have your mercs do?"

Sidonis smiled as he once more succeeded in persuading them.

"Sammy, if you please."

Samuel sighed and turned towards his mercs with Alex now sitting on a stretcher with his arm reattached and his skin slowly healing.

"There are several locations that are to be handled by us, they are all given to those who may have an edge in the area."

He brought out a lacrima that showed several locations.

"Dark Horse, you and your squad are to attend a party in club Errera, in the small nation of New Mombasa, you will assassinate the DJ and his accomplices and exfiltrate the area."

The small lacrima showed a very shiny orange club with masses of neon on it, as well as dozens of patrons standing in line to enter.

Brad looked to his squad mates and nodded as they did, before turning to his leader.

"Understood sir, we will handle it."

"Good. Next is an assault mission on a nearby fleet base taken over by a dark guild calling themselves the Night Lords, they are planning on assaulting several transports and civilian boats. We need it wrecked. Sensō, you Rey and Raina will be handling this."

The lacrima proceeded to show what looked much like an oilrig but with more armoured ships, canons and skulls with bat wings on it.

Rey and Sensō fist bumped at the prospect of working together officially, while Raina had a look of absolute dismay on her face.

"Next we have a village that requires assistance called Catachan, in the country of Ultima. There are several lethal plants and acidic pools that are making life miserable for the general populous, so we need medical assistance and some foresight. Jack, Zhuue, Ancheindo I hope you all enjoy a jungle vacation."

The area shown by the lacrima seemed like regular jungle, until they noticed a large snake eating a tiger.

Zhuue had a safari hat on her head and gave thumbs up.

Jack turned towards Ancheindo and smiled slightly.

"I'll describe and bring back anything amazing we find in nature for you."

"Thank you Jack, I appreciate the gesture."

"Ilyana, you and the twins are heading for outpost X12 in Aridia. Desert and army defence. Up for it?"

Several men in olive green armor were guarding a large fortress against a cliff wall in a desert like area with their right arms replaced by a small canon, looking rather understaffed.

She gave a wolfish grin.

"Come on little cubs, the Alpha is about to show you how it's done!"

The twins looked mildly concerned.

"Sister I am scared."

"Be strong brother, for Samuel."

"Wonderful, Alex… Alex get up."

"No, I am hurt, and recovering."

Samuel sighed tiredly.

"I will cook you an entire pot of spaghetti when you finish the job and come back."

He suddenly jumped up with his skin fully healed and his left arm turned into a claw and his right formed as a blade, all regrown and nice.

"Hungry for action dad! I mean MAN!"

"You are to head for a derelict ship near Catachan."

The lacrima showed a rusted massive transport ship that seemed to drift randomly at sea, completely at the mercy of the currents.

"Sweet! I can finally be a pirate!"

"… Moving on, Archangel squad. You three are coming with me, Glacier and Sheriff to Sanctuary, Arreat."

Zen got a little suspicious at the lack of info.

"Any information you forgot to mention, guild master."

Samuel looked towards him, face unreadable underneath his helmet.

"No, we were contacted in order to handle something, otherworldly, I am hoping that hellfire, sacred ice and literal holy power will work. This is a high risk mission so I am joining in order to make sure it goes well."

The area shown by the lacrima was a massive crater with a lot of lava pooling either around, within it or blasting upwards at random.

The three brothers looked to eachother, then at Jacob and Esmeralda, and finally at Samuel. Jacob and Esmeralda did the same before the two groups answered ok.

"And finally, Avarice you and Sivanna are to aid the Korgon resistance on Tyhrranosis, more specifically at Kavu Island. Avarice, you will be selling counterfeit weaponry and armor to the imperials in order to sabotage their efforts while Sivanna will use the resistance base to create a new improved mechanized army for them to use as their numbers are steadily falling. Is that understood?"

The final location showed was a base smaller than the X12 one, but had a lot more of the olive coloured troops fighting against navy blue troopers with metal golems attacking. The island shown consisted mostly of sand and large rocks used for cover.

The two were stunned.

"So you are telling me that I get to sell cheap pieces of scrap, to a bunch of suckers and get paid their wages, AND I get to keep that money AND I get paid afterwards?!"

"… Yes"

Avarice sniffled slightly.

"Sir, would you consider adopting me?"

Samuel just stood there with a sweat drop.

"Maybe later."

"And you are allowing me to not only restart my mechanized army, but to make more improvements and actually use them to benefit the changing of a country WITH firepower and violence? AND I will be in command?"

He nodded.

"Guild master, I require your permission."

"For what?"

"I wish to court your son."

"… Just fucking… Everybody gets going now before I decide to punch everyone in the dick/pussy to punish everyone."

They all stood still, unable to fully grasp the fact that they just heard their leader to tell them to fuck off before he punched them in their nether regions.

"NOW!"

And so the guild set off into the new regions they were to handle.

He just shook his head as he walked alongside his "new squad" to handle the otherworldly problem.

" _Maybe this won't go completely fuckshit wrong."_

He would soon change his mind however.

 **A/N: God damn am I sorry for making you guys wait! Been a lot of stuff I needed to get done, and work on so I haven't had the time and motivation has eluded me fro quite some time and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Lots of stuff really. But here we are at least. Happy Easter and all that. Review, Follow and Favourite for more merc tales and don't forget we are always looking for more members.**

 **Oh yeah, short chap sorry but I need some cliffhanging for you guys to grab!**


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